By: Ellis S.B. No. 984
(In the Senate - Filed March 1, 2013; March 12, 2013, read
first time and referred to Committee on Open Government;
April 11, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 11, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 984 By: Davis
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the meeting of a governmental body held by
videoconference call.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (c), (e), (f), and (h), Section
551.127, Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) A meeting of a state governmental body or a governmental
body that extends into three or more counties may be held by
videoconference call only if the member [a majority of the quorum]
of the governmental body presiding over the meeting is physically
present at one location of the meeting that is open to the public
during the open portions of the meeting.
(e) The notice of a meeting to be held by videoconference
call must specify as a location of the meeting the location where a
quorum of the governmental body will be physically present and
specify the intent to have a quorum present at that location, except
that the notice of a meeting to be held by videoconference call
under Subsection (c) must specify as a location of the meeting the
[each] location where the member [a majority of the quorum] of the
governmental body presiding over the meeting will be physically
present and specify the intent to have the member [a majority of the
quorum] of the governmental body presiding over the meeting present
at that location. The location where the member of the governmental
body presiding over the meeting is physically present [In addition,
the notice of the meeting must specify as a location of the meeting
each other location where a member of the governmental body who will
participate in the meeting will be physically present during the
meeting. Each of the locations] shall be open to the public during
the open portions of the meeting.
(f) Each portion of a meeting held by videoconference call
that is required to be open to the public shall be visible and
audible to the public at the [each] location specified under
Subsection (e). If a problem occurs that causes a meeting to no
longer be visible and audible to the public at that location, the
meeting must be recessed until the problem is resolved. If the
problem is not resolved in six hours or less, the meeting must be
adjourned.
(h) The [Each] location specified under Subsection (e), and
each remote location from which a member of the governmental body
participates, shall have two-way communication with each other
location during the entire meeting. The face of each [Each]
participant in the videoconference call, while that participant is
speaking, shall be clearly visible, and the voice audible, to each
other participant and, during the open portion of the meeting, to
the members of the public in attendance at a location of the
meeting.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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