HBA-ALS H.B. 1220 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1220 By: Keel State Affairs 2/25/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, audit working papers of the state auditor are statutorily excepted from the disclosure requirements of the Open Records Act. In addition, the Texas Attorney General has issued opinions confirming that this exception is necessary to perform the law enforcement duties of the state auditor's office. Although the statutory law enforcement duties of a county auditor require the same level of security that is necessary and granted to the state auditor, current law does not except the audit working papers of a county auditor from these disclosure requirements. As a result, a county auditor must seek an attorney general opinion on each open records request for audit working papers despite the fact that the attorney general has consistently issued opinions finding that county auditor's audit working papers are not subject to these disclosure requirements. The purpose of this bill is to provide the same statutory exception to a county auditor that is provided to the state auditor. H.B. 1220 excepts the audit working papers or draft audit report of an auditor of a political subdivision from the public information disclosure requirements if the audit is conducted according to generally accepted auditing standards as prescribed by certain entities. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 552.116, Government Code, to provide that an audit working paper or draft audit report of an auditor of a political subdivision of this state is excepted from the disclosure requirements of Section 552.021 (Public Information) if the audit is conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as prescribed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the United States General Accounting Office, or another professionally recognized entity that prescribes auditing standards. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.