SRRPUB11 – State Website Guidelines – Linking and Indexing Internet Sites

Version 3.5 August 18, 2005

State agencies that maintain a generally accessible Internet site shall cooperate to facilitate useful electronic links among the sites. State agencies shall attempt to link their sites in such a manner that different sites from which persons can be expected to need information concurrently are linked, and that the site can be located easily through electronic means. Additional laws, enacted during the 76th Session, require specific information be posted on a generally accessible Internet site. Agencies are required to post a link to the State Agency Link and Privacy Policy. Universities are required to post a link to the Universitiy Link and Privacy Policy.

Extract of Senate Bill 801

A state agency shall make available through a generally accessible Internet site:
the text of its rules; and any material, such as a letter, opinion, or compliance manual, that explains or interprets one or more of its rules and that the agency has issued for general distribution to persons affected by one or more of its rules.

A state agency shall design the generally accessible Internet site so that a member of the public may send questions about the agency's rules to the agency electronically and receive responses to the questions from the agency electronically. If the agency's rules and the agency's explanatory and interpretive materials are made available at different Internet sites, both sites shall be designed in compliance with this subsection.

A state agency shall design the generally accessible Internet site so that it conforms to generally acceptable standards for Internet accessibility for people with disabilities.

A state agency may comply with this section through the actions of another agency, such as the secretary of state, on the agency's behalf.

All state agencies that maintain a generally accessible Internet site shall cooperate to facilitate useful electronic links among the sites. State agencies shall attempt to link their sites in such a manner that different sites from which persons can be expected to need information concurrently are linked.

Each state agency that maintains a generally accessible Internet site shall establish the site so that the site can be located easily through electronic means.

Each state agency that receives information from members of the public or from regulated persons by means of a form or that receives payments of money from members of the public or from regulated persons must also include in its strategic plan a plan for receiving the forms or the payments through the Internet or through other electronic means. The department shall assist state agencies in developing this portion of the strategic plan. The plan must:

• include appropriate security measures that follow guidelines established by the department;
• include performance measures that will allow the department and the legislature to evaluate the agency's progress in implementing the plan; and
• specify the time during which the agency will fully implement the plan.

Extract of Senate Bill 1252

A governmental body that broadcasts a meeting over the Internet shall establish an Internet site and provide access to the broadcast from that site. The governmental body shall provide on the Internet site the same notice of the meeting that the governmental body is required to post under Subchapter C. The notice on the Internet must be posted within the time required for posting notice under Subchapter C.

Extract of Senate Bill 1563

Internet site, including the ease of use of the site, information on the location of the site and the agency, and information accessible through the site such as a listing of services and programs and whom to contact for further information or to complain;

Each agency that maintains a Website shall publish its Compact With Texans on that Website.

Compact With Texans

The requirements for Customer Service Standards, as required by Senate Bill 1563, are contained in the instructions for preparing Agency Strategic Plans.

Extract of House Bill 2835

Relating to information that certain state agencies must post on the Internet.

Sec. 2054.121. REQUIRED POSTING OF INFORMATION ON INTERNET.
Each state agency, other than an institution of higher education, that receives an aggregate amount of appropriations in the General Appropriations Act for a state fiscal biennium that exceeds $175 million shall post the following information during the biennium on a generally accessible Internet site maintained by or for the agency:

(1) an analysis of all agency expenditures during the two preceding state fiscal years that lists each county in the state and states for each county the amount of agency expenditures made in or for the benefit of the county;
(2) if the information required to substantially comply with Subdivision (1) is not available, an analysis that approximates compliance with Subdivision (1) to the greatest possible extent by listing agency expenditures according to geographic regions of the state, to the extent possible, and by each field office of the agency;
(3) a profile of the governing officer or of each member of the governing body of the agency that includes, among other information, the office address of the officer or member;
(4) a listing and description of all contracts with vendors that have a value exceeding $100,000 that the agency has entered into and that are currently being performed or for which performance has not yet begun;
(5) a brief description of the agency's duties; and
(6) an electronic link to the agency's rules as published in the electronic version of the Texas administrative Code and an electronic link to any written procedure of the agency relating to agency hearings that is not contained in the electronic version of the Texas Administrative Code.

See the 1 T.A.C. 206 State Websites sections addressing specific links and meta tags: 206.55 (State Agencies) and 206.75 (Universities). TRAIL Metatagging Standards are published by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.