small-county appraisal boards must post meeting videos online

The text as introduced · 424 words

90R3926 MCK-D

By: Canales
H.B. No. 901

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requiring the board of directors and appraisal review

board of certain appraisal districts to make video and audio

recordings of open meetings available on the Internet.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 551, Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 551.1284 to read as follows:

Sec. 551.1284. APPRAISAL DISTRICT: INTERNET POSTING OF OPEN

MEETING. (a) This section applies only to an appraisal district in

a county with a population of less than 120,000.

(b) An appraisal district shall:

(1) make a video and audio recording of reasonable

quality of each:

(A) regularly scheduled open meeting of the

district's board of directors that is not a work session or a

special called meeting;

(B) regularly scheduled open meeting of the

district's appraisal review board that is not a work session or a

special called meeting; and

(C) hearing or proceeding of the district's

appraisal review board that is open to the public, including

individual property tax protest hearings; and

(2) make available an archived copy of the video and

audio recording of each meeting, hearing, or proceeding described

by Subdivision (1) on the Internet.

(c) An appraisal district may make available the archived

recordings required by Subsection (b) on an existing Internet

website, including a publicly accessible video-sharing or social

networking site. The appraisal district is not required to

establish a separate Internet website and provide access to

archived recordings of meetings from that site.

(d) An appraisal district that maintains an Internet

website shall make available on that site, in a conspicuous manner:

(1) the archived recordings required by Subsection

(b); or

(2) an accessible link to those archived recordings.

(e) An appraisal district shall:

(1) make the archived recordings required by

Subsection (b) available on the Internet not later than the seventh

day after the date the recording was made; and

(2) maintain the archived recordings on the Internet

until at least the second anniversary of the date the recording was

first made available.

SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

an open meeting held on or after the effective date of this Act. An

open meeting that is held before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date of the open meeting, and

the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2027.