The Texas Government Transparency & Performance Act (TX-GT&P)

Texas state companion to GT&P. Extends the Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov't Code Ch. 552), Texas Open Meetings Act (Ch. 551), the State Auditor's Office, and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act into an outcome-publication and whistleblower-reward regime.

THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY & PERFORMANCE ACT (TX-GT&P)

A Texas Bill to Publish Outcomes, Tighten Performance Standards, and Reward Fraud Reporting

Vehicle: State passage. Texas Legislature, regular session. Primary referral to the House State Affairs Committee and Senate State Affairs Committee; civil-service provisions additionally referred to House State Affairs and Senate Business & Commerce.

Relationship to federal GT&P: Where federal GT&P codifies a federal outcome-dashboard, a Schedule F accountability track for the federal Senior Executive Service, and an enhanced federal qui tam mechanism under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3730, this Act creates the Texas companion within the Texas Public Information Act, the Texas State Auditor’s Office framework, and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act (Texas has no general state false-claims statute as of enactment).

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “Texas Government Transparency & Performance Act (TX-GT&P).”

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT

The Legislature finds that Texas operates robust transparency infrastructure under the Public Information Act (Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 552) and the Open Meetings Act (Ch. 551); that State-agency strategic planning and performance reporting are mandated under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 2056 (strategic plans) and Ch. 2101 (reporting requirements); that the State Auditor operates under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 321 and the Legislative Budget Board under Ch. 322; that whistleblower protection is established under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 554; and that the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act under Tex. Hum. Res. Code Sec. 36.001 et seq. provides a qui-tam-style reward mechanism for health-care fraud recoveries. This Act extends, and does not duplicate, those frameworks.

TITLE I — DEFINITIONS & COORDINATION WITH TEXAS LAW

Vehicle (Texas): Definitional.

Sec. 101. Definitions

For purposes of this Act:

(a) “State agency” has the meaning assigned in Tex. Gov’t Code Sec. 2056.001.
(b) “Strategic Plan” means an agency strategic plan required under Tex. Gov’t Code Sec. 2056.002.
(c) “SAO” means the State Auditor’s Office established under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 321.
(d) “TMFPA” means the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act under Tex. Hum. Res. Code Ch. 36.

Sec. 102. Coordination with Existing Texas Law

(a) This Act shall be construed consistently with:

Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 552 (Public Information Act).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 551 (Open Meetings Act).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 2056 and Ch. 2101 (strategic planning and reporting).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 321 (State Auditor) and Ch. 322 (Legislative Budget Board).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 554 (whistleblower protection).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 656 (state employment) and Ch. 659 (compensation and salary administration).
Tex. Hum. Res. Code Ch. 36 (TMFPA).
Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 2001 (Administrative Procedure Act).

TITLE II — STATE-AGENCY OUTCOME PUBLICATION

Vehicle (Texas): Regular order. Extends existing strategic-plan and reporting obligations; no new agency, limited fiscal impact.

Sec. 201. Texas Agency Outcome Dashboard

(a) The Texas Department of Information Resources, in coordination with the Governor’s Office of Budget and Policy and the Legislative Budget Board, shall maintain a Texas Agency Outcome Dashboard (“TX-AOD”).
(b) Each State agency shall publish, for each major program in its Strategic Plan under Tex. Gov’t Code Sec. 2056.002, machine-readable performance data describing cost per unit, output volume, and outcome measurement consistent with the agency’s existing performance measures.
(c) TX-AOD shall be published in machine-readable form, updated at least quarterly, and accessible through existing State data-portal infrastructure under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 2054.

Sec. 202. Integration with Strategic Planning

(a) Beginning with the strategic-planning cycle following the effective date of this Act, each State agency shall include, in its Strategic Plan submission under Tex. Gov’t Code Sec. 2056, the data required to populate TX-AOD.
(b) Nothing in this Title shall be construed to limit the authority of the Governor’s Office, the Comptroller, the Legislative Budget Board, or the Appropriations Committees to require additional performance information.

TITLE III — STATE CIVIL-SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY

Vehicle (Texas): Regular order. Codifies performance-expectation publication obligations for State employment; does not alter the at-will character of Texas State employment.

Sec. 301. Published Performance Expectations

(a) Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 656 shall be amended so that each executive-level and director-level State-agency position’s appointing authority establish, and publish, annual performance expectations tied to the agency’s Strategic Plan performance measures under Sec. 2056.002.
(b) Failure of an executive- or director-level employee to satisfy published performance expectations for two consecutive annual review cycles shall constitute grounds for non-retention consistent with existing agency authority under Texas law.

TITLE IV — REGULATORY PARTICIPATION

Vehicle (Texas): Regular order. Creates a publication obligation within the existing Texas Administrative Procedure Act.

Sec. 401. Texas Regulatory Participation Dashboard

(a) The Office of the Secretary of State, in coordination with agencies that adopt rules under Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 2001 (APA), shall publish a Texas Regulatory Participation Dashboard displaying, for each pending rulemaking, the docket status, the text of comments received, and a summary disposition.
(b) The Dashboard shall be informational and shall not alter any agency’s rulemaking authority or any party’s rights under Ch. 2001.

TITLE V — WHISTLEBLOWER REWARDS

Vehicle (Texas): Regular order. Amends TMFPA to align reward ranges with federal qui tam levels; Texas has no general state False Claims Act, so this Act expands the existing health-care-fraud qui-tam-style mechanism rather than creating a new FCA.

Sec. 501. Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act Reward Enhancement

(a) Tex. Hum. Res. Code Sec. 36.110 (recovery awards to persons bringing an action under TMFPA) is hereby amended so that a person bringing an action under TMFPA may receive a share of proceeds aligned with the federal range established under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3730(d).
(b) Amounts payable to such persons shall be drawn from amounts recovered to the State and shall not exceed amounts available after restitution to the injured State program.
(c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to create a general state false-claims cause of action outside the Medicaid-fraud context of TMFPA.

TITLE VI — IMPLEMENTATION & GENERAL PROVISIONS

Vehicle (Texas): Structural.

Sec. 601. Severability

If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the remainder of this Act.

Sec. 602. Effective Date

This Act shall take effect September 1 of the year following enactment.

Canonical federal version: GT&P. Other Texas bills: TX-ACSA, TX-MEWRA, TX-AI-Workforce.