Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund
State Expenditures General Fund
FTE Position Change	0.0 FTE	0.0 FTE
Other State Impact: None
Effective Date: 90 days after adjournment unless a referendum petition is filed.
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: None
Local Government Impact: None

This bill requires the Commission on Information Management in the Department of Personnel/GSS to develop nonvisual access standards by July 1, 2001, for information technology equipment and software for state agencies. The amendment authorizes the commission to develop a technology clause that may be used in contracts for procurement of nonvisual access information technology.

The bill requires the head of each state agency to submit a written plan to the commission by July 1, 2002, identifying potential costs or savings to implement the standards. The commission is to evaluate the standards and the implementation plans, and report to the House and Senate Business Affairs Committees and the Joint Budget Committee by January 1, 2003. The report is to include any recommendations for legislation.

Commission on Information Management. The commission will be able to develop the standards and the technology clause during FY 2000-01, and report to legislative committees during FY 2002-03 with existing budgeted resources.

State agencies. This fiscal note assumes state agencies will be able to develop and submit a written plan as an element of the annual operating budget development process during FY 2001-02 with existing budgeted resources. In the event additional resources are required, any affected state agencies will identify those requirements at that time.

In the event that future legislation is required, or that additional state resources are required, to implement the acquisition of information technology to allow blind or visually impaired persons to access state information, this fiscal note assumes any resulting fiscal impact to state agencies will be identified at that time.

The Department of Law indicates that additional legal services may be required to respond to state agency inquiries regarding clarification of the definition of "blind or visually impaired" and legal interpretations of the definition's application to a specific state agency. This fiscal note assumes the costs for any additional legal services, if any, will be identified by those specific agencies during the annual operating budget development process.

In summary, this bill will not affect state expenditures for FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-01. The amount of any future potential state costs is dependant upon the conditions of the standards to be developed by the Commission on Information Management, and any additional requirements that may be specified by any future legislation.

This proposed amendment will not require new state appropriations during FY 1999-2000.