Bill Text: TX SB1463 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the availability of financial information of nonprofit corporations for public inspection.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-05-16 - Committee report sent to Calendars [SB1463 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1463-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Hughes S.B. No. 1463
(In the Senate - Filed March 4, 2019; March 14, 2019, read
first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;
May 6, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 6, 2019,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1463 By: Nichols

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the availability of financial information of nonprofit
corporations for public inspection.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 22.353, Business Organizations Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (a-1), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) to
read as follows:
(a-1) For purposes of this section, "records, books, and
annual reports" of a corporation's financial activity:
(1) include:
(A) financial records required to be maintained
and annual financial reports prepared or approved under Section
22.352;
(B) any document the Internal Revenue Service
requires a corporation that is tax exempt under Section 501(a),
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed as an exempt entity
under Section 501(c) of that code, to make available to the public;
(C) documents containing salary or other
information related to the compensation of each employee who
receives more than $75,000 annually from the corporation;
(D) other annual reports produced by the
corporation;
(E) financial statements, including audited
financial statements; and
(F) management representation letters prepared
in connection with an audit of the corporation; and
(2) do not include:
(A) contracts and agreements, including
operating and settlement agreements;
(B) employee personnel files;
(C) donor names;
(D) sponsor information; or
(E) sensitive personal information, including
addresses, bank account numbers, and social security numbers.
(c) If a corporation anticipates that the fee to be charged
for preparing a copy of a record or report under Subsection (b) will
exceed $100, the corporation may provide notice to the person
requesting the copy requiring the person to pay a deposit of all or
a portion of the anticipated fee for preparing the copy. The
corporation may treat all requests for copies received by the
corporation during seven consecutive calendar days from a single
person, mailing address, or e-mail address as a single request for
purposes of calculating the anticipated fee under this subsection.
On the date a corporation provides a copy or copies of a record or
report for which the corporation accepted a deposit under this
subsection, the corporation shall refund to the requestor the
difference between the accepted deposit and the actual costs
incurred by the corporation in providing the copy or copies.
(d) A requestor who fails to pay a deposit required under
Subsection (c) not later than the 15th business day after the date
the requestor receives notice of the deposit from the corporation
is considered to have withdrawn the request for the copy or copies
under this section. A person whose request is considered withdrawn
under this subsection is not precluded from submitting a new
request to the corporation for the same records or reports.
(e) A corporation may establish a reasonable monthly limit
of not less than 15 hours on the total amount of hours per calendar
month that the corporation's personnel may spend responding to two
or more requests for copies submitted to the corporation by a single
requestor during a calendar month.
(f) Each time a corporation that establishes a monthly time
limit under Subsection (e) complies with a request for a copy or
copies under this section, the corporation shall provide to the
requestor a written statement of the monthly hour limit established
under that subsection, the amount of time corporation personnel
spent complying with the request, and the cumulative amount of time
spent by corporation personnel complying with all requests from
that requestor during the applicable calendar month in which the
request is made. The corporation may not include the amount of time
spent by personnel in preparing a written statement required by
this subsection in calculating the amount of time spent complying
with a request. A corporation that provides a written statement to
a requestor as required by this subsection is not required to
respond to additional requests for copies from a requestor who has
exceeded the monthly time limit until the following calendar month.
(g) If a corporation determines that all or part of a
person's request for copies is duplicative of a request for which
the corporation has previously provided copies to that person, the
corporation is not required to provide the duplicative copies to
the requestor and shall certify to the requestor that copies of all
or part of the requested record or report, as applicable, were
previously provided to the requestor and that the corporation is
not required to provide the duplicative copies to the requestor.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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