Approve minutes of February 8, 2019 Commission Meeting.

Commissioner Wong moved to approve the minutes of the February 8, 2019 commission meeting. Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Public Comment. No public comment was given.

Conflict of interest disclosures. No conflicts were disclosed.

Report of the Archives and Records Committee meeting of March 28, 2019 and recommendations regarding repairs to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center and University Records Retention Schedule.

Vice Chair Holt reported that the Archives and Records Committee met at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty on March 28 with a quorum present consisting of himself, Commissioners Garza and Givens along with Commissioner Tocker and Chairman Waters. The committee heard from a Texas Facilities Commission representative who estimated repairs to the Gillard Duncan house to be $405,000. After Jelain Chubb detailed repairs for other historic buildings and the Center itself, Vice Chair Holt moved to approve the committee’s recommendation to approve the $405,000 to repair the Gillard Duncan house. No second required. Motion passed unanimously. In response to a request from Commissioner Givens, Ms. Chubb said that she would provide an updated list of anticipated repairs for all the agency’s historic buildings in Liberty at a future meeting. Vice Chair Holt and Commissioner Givens suggested staff consider not finishing out the building interiors to showcase historic features within the buildings and recommended staff seek out additional partners in the area to share expenses.

Review and approve acceptance of a gift greater than $500.

Donna Osborne requested approval for a gift of $5,324 from CCAT&T Holdings LLC, an annual donation from the company that manages the cell tower located at the State Records Center. Commissioners expressed concern that funds for leasing a commercial item on state property is classified as a donation and eligible for a tax write-off and discussed possible actions they could take to motivate CCATT Holdings to renegotiate the lease agreement rather than waiting until it nears expiration in 2026. Ms. Osborne said the company is interested in renewing the agreement but hasn’t indicated if they are willing to renegotiate at this time.

After discussion, Vice Chair Holt recommended that the commission request advice from counsel on the subject and moved acceptance of the gift. Commissioner Mann seconded. After further discussion, Chairman Waters called for a roll call vote. Motion passed with Chairman Waters, Vice Chair Holt and Commissioners Mann, Tocker and Garza voting aye. Commissioners Givens and Wong abstained.  

Commissioner Givens asked Rosalind Hunt, the agency’s legal counsel, to review the contract to determine if it is an appropriate contract and if the commission did not approve the donation whether that would that result in contract renegotiation. Vice Chair Holt said he is interested in what the legal underpinnings were at the time that resulted in this type of contract. Chairman Waters asked Ms. Hunt to clarify the issues with Commissioner Givens, review the contract and provide copies to the commission.

Review and approve contracts greater than $100,000, contract renewals, and amendments.

Responding to a question from Chairman Waters, Jennifer Peters said in FY17 the agency invested $9.5 million in TexShare. If libraries had to pay for them individually, the cost would have been $118 million. For TexQuest school online resources, the agency invested $4.2 million and if school districts had paid individually the cost would have been $141 million.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew the EBSCO Core Package for the TexShare Databases Program in the amount of $4,951,656 for a subscription duration from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Responding to Vice Chair Holt’s question about whether Texas receives the best negotiated rates or better than other states, Ms. Peters affirmed that it does and that her staff negotiated contracts with that question in mind as well as performing much research with their counterparts in other states. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew the Cengage Learning contract for the TexShare Core Database Program in the amount of $1,320,740 for a subscription duration from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew Credo Reference, an online database that is part of the TexShare Core Database Program in the amount of $675,000 for a subscription period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2010. Commissioner Wong moved to approve the renewal and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew contracts with EBSCO and ProQuest for databases that are part of the TexShare Core Database Program and that include content areas of legal forms, science, technology, engineering, math and online learning e-resources. The contract amount is $1,417,984 with a subscription period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for a new contract with Encyclopaedia Britannica for the TexQuest electronic resources program for Texas K-12 schools. The contract amount is $1,000,000 for a subscription duration from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020 with three optional renewals that cannot be renewed past June 14, 2023. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for a new contract with Cengage Learning, a subsidiary of Gale, for a new e-resource that is part of the TexQuest program. The contract amount is $1,500,000 for a subscription duration from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020 with three optional renewals that cannot be renewed past June 14, 2023. The resources provide thousands of full-text articles, e-books, reference materials and videos from leading news sources and other resources that cover the K-12 curricula. Commissioner Wong moved to approve the request and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for a new TexQuest e-resource contract with Infobase for a subscription period from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020 with three optional renewals that cannot be renewed past June 15, 2023 in the amount of $448,750. The online resource provides full-text documents, streaming media and other resources that covers the K-12 curriculum. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for a new e-resource contract for TexQuest with ProQuest SIRS Discoverer, a multidisciplinary database specifically designed for elementary and middle school learners, researchers and educators covering curriculum in current events, history, health, language arts, math, science, social studies and technology. The contract amount is $68,800 with a subscription duration from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020 and three optional renewals that cannot be renewed past June 14, 2023. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew the online database contracts for the TexQuest program with EBSCO E-books Collections in the amount of $149,687.80 for a subscription duration from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020. Ms. Peters said this resource is used heavily by high school students doing advanced placement college courses. Commissioner Mann moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew the online database contracts for the TexQuest and TexShare programs with Learning Express (an EBSCO company) for a total of $1,010,585 for a subscription period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the renewal and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval to renew online database contracts for TexQuest and TexShare programs with Cengage Learning (Gale) and TeachingBooks.net for a subscription duration from June 15, 2019 through June 14, 2020 for both products at a total amount of $1,000,937. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the renewal and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval for agency-negotiated discounts for the School Select and TexSelect programs. Agency staff negotiate the rates for participants, but no state funds are used to purchase the contracts. Commissioner Mann moved to approve the discount program and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested approval of a contract with ProQuest for Heritage Quest Online an online genealogical resource for a subscription duration from May 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 at a cost of $531,250. Commissioner Gives moved approval and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Ms. Peters requested authority to renew a contract with Middle Country Public Library for the Family Place Libraries program in the amount not to exceed $114,000 for a term from September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020. Commissioner Wong moved to approve the contract and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Report on Legislative Session.

Mark Smith updated the commission on legislative issues including the status of the agency’s budget request and bills of interest to the agency. He said the commission’s priorities for records storage solutions, cybersecurity, and staff salaries are included in the House budget but not the Senate. He said that on the Senate side there is a rider for the agency to study records storage solutions over the next biennium. Also, the Senate budget includes one half of the commission’s request for an agency counsel position but none of the other exceptional items requested, he said.

Regarding the agency’s Sunset bill, Director Smith reported that the Sunset bill was heard favorably in the Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee and on the House floor. When the bill was first introduced, there were issues regarding local records which he said had been resolved. However, he said that the committee bill substitute included a new provision, adding a new section 441.206 to the Government Code pertaining to legislative branch records. This new section would change ownership of legislative records to the legislature, a provision not in the original bill nor recommended by the Sunset commission. He said that this provision will create a number of challenges and concerns for the agency including workload issues, concerns about transparency of government and preservation of historical materials. Another concern is responding to Public Information Act requests because the provision would require staff to obtain permission from the legislature before releasing records. He said the National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators and the Council of State Archivists have issued statements calling for the removal of the section.

Commissioner Wong inquired about what the financial cost would be to implement this provision. Director Smith said the agency anticipated that there would be costs to the agency and to the legislature and submitted a fiscal note detailing the financial costs to TSLAC. However, the Legislative Budget Board’s fiscal note stated that there would not be a cost. Responding to questions from Vice Chair Holt, Director Smith said the agency has concerns about responding to PIA requests for records that do not belong to the agency and also the ability to respond to such requests in a timely and legal fashion when permission from the legislature must be sought if this provision becomes law.

Commissioner Givens asked what might be the argument for this provision. Director Smith said that during the agency’s Sunset hearing there were concerns about control of legislative records and it is his sense that the legislature wants to retain greater control over legislative records. Also during the Sunset review there were considerations regarding the confidentiality of materials and fears of staff releasing records which has never happened.

Director Smith provided a list of other bills the agency is following and provided a brief update on those. No action required.

At this point in the meeting, Chairman Waters recessed the meeting at 10:05 a.m. and reconvened the meeting at 10:15 a.m.

Discussion of status of request for an easement at the State Records Center.

Mark Smith provided an update on the request for an easement at the State Records Center noting that he had met with City of Austin staff. Following commission direction at the last commission meeting, he provided a draft letter for an Attorney General opinion to determine if granting the easement would meet the three-prong public purpose test required by the state constitution, thanking Rosalind Hunt for her input in the letter. He reported that the City has not agreed to provide a fence or compensation for the easement although they seem to be open to agreeing to them. Chairman Waters said this item will be discussion only and said the commission should take this under consideration.

Report of the Director and Librarian.

Mark Smith provided a written report on agency activities and initiatives and responded to questions about his report. He noted that today is the start of the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference at the Austin Convention Center and that the agency has a very strong presence at the conference with many and varied programs and sessions. No action required.

Report on the Talking Book Program site visit.

Ava Smith presented the results of a report generated by a site visit by a National Library Service consultant for the Southern Conference of the NLS, a branch of the Library of Congress, during July and August 2018. The site visit is conducted every two years to ensure that the division is following the NLS guidelines. She said that NLS is pleased with the work of the Texas Talking Book Program. No action required.

Discussion of American Association of School Librarians Standards.

Jennifer Peters requested commission endorsement of school library standards adopted by the American Association of School Libraries in November 2017. Commissioner Wong moved to approve and Commissioner Tocker seconded. After discussion, Commissioner Givens expressed concern that he hadn’t done enough research on this topic and moved to table the endorsement and Vice Chair Holt seconded. Chairman Waters called for a roll call vote. Motion to table passed 4-3 with Vice Chair Holt and Commissioners Garza, Givens and Wong voting aye and Chairman Waters and Commissioners Mann and Tocker voting nay.

Approval of appointment to the Library Systems Act Advisory Board.

Jennifer Peters requested appointment of Dr. Judith M. Bergeron, Director of the Smithville Public Library, to the Library Systems Act Advisory Board to fill a position vacated by Denise Milton who resigned from the board in February 2019.  Commissioner Mann moved to approve the appointment and Commissioner Garza seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Approval of grant to the Windham School District.

Jennifer Peters requested approval to fund a one-time $75,000 grant to the Windham School District to improve and expand services they provide in 14 prison libraries at 10 prison units serving female offenders. Vice Chair Holt moved to approve the request and Commissioner Givens seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Approval of preliminary records storage and imaging fee schedules for FY 2020.

Craig Kelso requested approval of a preliminary FY2020 records storage and imaging fee schedule for services at the State Records Center. Commissioner Givens moved to approve the schedule and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to post proposed amendments to 13 TAC §6.10, State Records, University Records Retention Schedule.

Craig Kelso requested authorization to post proposed amendments to 13 TAC §6.10, State Records, University Records Retention Schedule which he noted was a six-year project of the Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council and SLRM staff. He said the rules were presented at the commission’s March 28 Archives and Records Committee and as a result of the discussion at that meeting revisions were made in the schedule. If approved the schedule will be published in the Texas Register for comment and bring those back to the commission. Vice Chair Holt said there was a lot of discussion in the committee of the collaborative nature of the process with university records managers and staff. Because there were changes to the schedule, Chairman Waters asked for a motion and a second. Vice Chair Holt moved to approve the request and Commissioner Mann seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Authorization to post a rule review pursuant to Texas Government Code §2001.039 13 TAC Chapter 2, General Policies and Procedures.

Mark Smith requested authorization to post a rule review to 13 TAC Chapter 2, General Policies and Procedures. After discussion, Commissioner Mann moved to approve the request and Commissioner Wong seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Discussion of future commission meeting dates.

Mark Smith reviewed future meeting dates and after discussion, Chairman Waters asked staff to investigate February 6 and 7, 2020, in Austin for a possible two-day strategic planning session and commission meeting.

Report on agency expenditures summary.

Donna Osborne provided a written report on agency expenditures and responded to questions regarding the report. No action required.

At this point in the meeting, Commissioner Wong asked for an Executive Session. Chairman Waters announced that it was 11:13 a.m. and that the Commission would go into Executive Session to obtain the advice of legal counsel under Agenda Item 8.

Executive Session under the Open Meetings Act. The commission may meet in Executive Session on any item listed above if authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551.

The closed session ended at 11:35 a.m. and Vice Chair Holt called the Commission back into open session at 11:36 a.m. noting that Chairman Waters had exited the meeting prior to the closed session. Vice Chair Holt said no action was taken during the closed session which was held to discuss legal questions with agency counsel. There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Mann moved to adjourn, Commissioner Tocker seconded, and motion passed. Vice Chair Holt adjourned the meeting at 11:37 a.m.