Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB1640 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	S.B. No. 1640
	1	+	By: Watson, et al. S.B. No. 1640
	2	+	(Phelan, Murr, Meyer, Guerra, Canales)
2	3
3	4
	5	+	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
4	6		AN ACT
5	7		relating to the open meetings law.
6	8		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
7	9		SECTION 1. Section 551.001(2), Government Code, is amended
8	10		to read as follows:
9	11		(2) "Deliberation" means a verbal or written exchange
10	12		[during a meeting] between a quorum of a governmental body, or
11	13		between a quorum of a governmental body and another person,
12	14		concerning an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental
13	15		body [or any public business].
14	16		SECTION 2. The heading to Section 551.143, Government Code,
15	17		is amended to read as follows:
16	18		Sec. 551.143. PROHIBITED SERIES OF COMMUNICATIONS
17	19		[CONSPIRACY TO CIRCUMVENT CHAPTER]; OFFENSE; PENALTY.
18	20		SECTION 3. Section 551.143(a), Government Code, is amended
19	21		to read as follows:
20	22		(a) A member [or group of members] of a governmental body
21	23		commits an offense if the member:
22	24		(1) [or group of members] knowingly engages in at
23	25		least one communication among a series of communications that each
24	26		occur outside of a meeting authorized by this chapter and that
25	27		concern an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body
26	28		in which the members engaging in the individual communications
27		-	constitute fewer than a quorum of members but the members engaging
28		-	in the series of communications constitute a quorum of members; and
	29	+	constitute fewer than a quorum of members; and
29	30		(2) knew at the time the member engaged in the
30	31		communication that the series of communications:
31	32		(A) involved or would involve a quorum; and
32	33		(B) would constitute a deliberation once a quorum
33	34		of members engaged in the series of communications [conspires to
34	35		circumvent this chapter by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for
35	36		the purpose of secret deliberations in violation of this chapter].
36	37		SECTION 4. Section 551.143, Government Code, as amended by
37	38		this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the
38	39		effective date of this Act. An offense committed before the
39	40		effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
40	41		date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in
41	42		effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense
42	43		was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element
43	44		of the offense occurred before that date.
44	45		SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
45	46		a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
46	47		provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
47	48		Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
48	49		Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
49		-	______________________________ ______________________________
50		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
51		-	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1640 passed the Senate on
52		-	April 9, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1; and that
53		-	the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 23, 2019, by the
54		-	following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
55		-	______________________________
56		-	Secretary of the Senate
57		-	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1640 passed the House, with
58		-	amendment, on May 17, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 145,
59		-	Nays 1, one present not voting.
60		-	______________________________
61		-	Chief Clerk of the House
62		-	Approved:
63		-	______________________________
64		-	Date
65		-	______________________________
66		-	Governor