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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to an open document format for electronic state documents. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is |
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amended by adding Section 2054.124 to read as follows: |
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Sec. 2054.124. OPEN DOCUMENT FORMAT REQUIRED. (a) In this |
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section, "state agency" means: |
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(1) a board, commission, council, department, office, |
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authority, or other agency in the executive branch of state |
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government created under the constitution or a statute of the |
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state, including an institution of higher education as defined by |
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Section 61.003, Education Code; |
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(2) the legislature or a legislative agency; or |
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(3) an appellate court or an agency in the judicial |
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branch of state government, including the State Bar of Texas. |
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(b) Each electronic document created, exchanged, or |
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maintained by a state agency must be created, exchanged, or |
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maintained in an open, Extensible Markup Language based file |
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format, specified by the department, that is: |
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(1) interoperable among diverse internal and external |
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platforms and applications; |
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(2) published without restrictions or royalties; |
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(3) fully and independently implemented by multiple |
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software providers on multiple platforms without any intellectual |
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property reservations for necessary technology; and |
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(4) controlled by an open industry organization with a |
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well-defined inclusive process for evolution of the standard. |
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(c) Each state agency must be able to receive electronic |
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documents in an open, Extensible Markup Language based file format |
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for office applications and may not change documents to a file |
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format used by only one vendor. |
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(d) The department shall develop guidelines for state |
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agencies to follow in determining whether existing electronic |
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documents must be converted to an open, Extensible Markup Language |
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based file format. In developing guidelines under this subsection, |
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the department shall consider: |
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(1) the cost of converting electronic documents; |
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(2) the need for public access to the documents; and |
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(3) the expected storage life of the documents. |
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SECTION 2. Not later than September 1, 2008, the Department |
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of Information Resources shall develop the guidelines required by |
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Section 2054.124(d), Government Code, as added by this Act. |
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SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this |
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section, Section 2054.124, Government Code, as added by this Act, |
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applies only to electronic documents created on or after the |
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effective date of this Act. |
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(b) Section 2054.124, Government Code, as added by this Act, |
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applies to electronic documents created, exchanged, or maintained |
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before the effective date of this Act only to the extent required by |
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the guidelines developed by the Department of Information Resources |
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under Section 2054.124(d), Government Code, as added by this Act. |
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SECTION 4. This Act takes effect December 1, 2007. |