Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 3459 amends the Texas Environmental, Health, and Safety Audit Privilege Act, which was established by the 74th Legislature to provide incentives for companies to conduct voluntary compliance audits. The act eliminates a provision that grants audit privilege for information that is discovered during a voluntary audit relevant to a criminal proceeding, clarifies that such information cannot be suppressed in a criminal trial, but stipulates that audit privilege for such information is not waived or eliminated for a civil or administrative proceeding. A public entity, public employee, or public official who discloses certain confidential information is subject to penalties under the open records law.

            The act removes immunity from criminal penalties for voluntary disclosure of violations, modifies terms under which audit privilege is waived, changes the definition of voluntary disclosure, and removes civil and administrative immunity if a violation results in a substantial economic benefit to the violator if the person has repeated significant violations. The act requires that a person claiming immunity be notified if the information they intend to disclose is required to be made public under state or federal law and establishes that a person is subject to a fine of up to $10,000 if they intentionally or knowingly claim an audit privilege for unprotected information.