Sec. 2054.052. GENERAL POWERS OF DEPARTMENT. (a) The department may adopt rules as necessary to implement its responsibility under this chapter.

(b) The department may require each state agency to report to the department:

(1) each agency's use of information resources technologies;

(2) the effect of those technologies on the duties and functions of the agency;

(3) the costs incurred by the agency in the acquisition and use of those technologies;

(4) the procedures followed in obtaining those technologies;

(5) the categories of information produced by the agency; and

(6) other information relating to information resources management that in the judgment of the department should be reported.

(c) At the request of a state agency, the department may provide technical and managerial assistance relating to information resources management, including automation feasibility studies, systems analysis, and design, training, and technology evaluation.

(d) The department may report to the governor and to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature any factors that in the opinion of the department are outside the duties of the department but that inhibit or promote the effective exchange and use of information in state government.

(e) The department may:

(1) acquire, apply for, register, secure, hold, protect, and renew under the laws of the State of Texas, the United States, any state in the United States, or any nation:

(A) a patent for the invention, discovery, or improvement of any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, art, or method, including any new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, art, or method;

(B) a copyright for an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device;

(C) a trademark, service mark, collective mark, or certification mark for a word, name, symbol, device, or slogan that the department uses to identify and distinguish its goods and services from other goods and services; or

(D) other evidence of protection or exclusivity issued for intellectual property;

(2) contract with a person or entity for the reproduction, distribution, public performance, display, advertising, marketing, lease, licensing, sale, use, or other distribution of the department's intellectual property;

(3) obtain under a contract described in Subdivision (2) a royalty, license right, or other appropriate means of securing reasonable compensation for the exercise of rights with respect to the department's intellectual property; and

(4) waive, increase, or reduce the amount of compensation secured by contract under Subdivision (3) if the department determines that the waiver, increase, or reduction will:

(A) further a goal or mission of the department; and

(B) result in a net benefit to the state.

(f) Except as provided by Section 2054.115(c), money paid to the department under this section shall be deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund.

(g) The department may accept or refuse a gift or grant of money, services, or property on behalf of the state for any public purpose related to the duties of the department.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.26(b), eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 825, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

Amended by:

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 8 (H.B. 674), Sec. 1, eff. April 23, 2007.