HS/HB 540 - This act creates the Office of Telecommunications Management within the Office of the Governor. A five member Telecommunications Nominating Committee is created. Three members of the Committee shall be appointed by the Governor, one of whom shall represent higher education, one of whom shall be a Commissioner of the Public Service Commission and one of whom shall represent the public. One member shall be a Senator and one member shall be a Representative appointed by the leaders of the respective chambers. A specific committee shall terminate when the Governor appoints a director of telecommunications management but a new committee shall be reappointed when a vacancy occurs.

The Committee shall nominate five individuals to be the director and the Governor shall chose one to be the Director of Telecommunications Management. The persons nominated must have broad experience in telecommunications and shall not have been an official, presumably of the state, for five years prior to selection and shall not have been an employee of the state for the prior three years. Nominees may have been employees of a college or university. The Director may hire up to three staff, one of whom may be professional staff, and the Governor may assign additional staff.

The Office of Telecommunications Management is responsible for the development of telecommunications systems and services, which includes electronic transmission, telephone, facsimile paging and mobile telephone services; radio systems; and emerging and future telecommunications technologies.

The Office shall: establish and coordinate all telecommunications and services for state agencies; be the sole purchaser of all telecommunication systems and services; develop coordinated telecommunications systems; define telecommunication specifications; devise methods for public access to data; coordinate the Information Network of Missouri; assist the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General; and may appear before the PSC on telecommunications issues. Many of these duties are assigned to the Commissioner of Administration in current law.

Beginning in 1996, all telecommunications appropriations requests and expenditures must be approved by the Office.

The Joint committee on Administrative Rules has authority to review rules issued by the Office but the Office does not have the authority to issue rules.

The act creates a new public body, the "Information Network of Missouri" but does not assign that entity to a department of government. The Network has a ten member governing board composed of representatives of state departments, public libraries, the Missouri bar, higher education and the public. Advice and consent is required. The network is charged with increasing public access to data and it may provide tailored services for subscribers at rates which will make the network self-sustaining. Startup costs must originate with private donors. The Network is exempt from Chapter 34, RSMo. (purchasing). Moneys received shall be deposited in a fund which is hereby created. Moneys in the fund do not lapse to General Revenue.
DAVID VALENTINE