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House Bill 670 |
House Author: Martinez Fischer et al. |
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Effective: 5-13-09 |
Senate Sponsor: Ellis |
House Bill 670 amends provisions of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code and Code of Criminal Procedure relating to a journalist's qualified testimonial privilege in civil and criminal proceedings. The bill prohibits a judicial, legislative, administrative, or other body from compelling a journalist to testify regarding or to produce or disclose in an official proceeding any confidential or nonconfidential information, document, or item obtained or prepared while the person was acting as a journalist or to produce or disclose in an official proceeding the source of any such material. The bill prohibits a subpoena or other compulsory process from compelling the parent, subsidiary, division, or affiliate of a communication service provider or news medium to disclose the information, documents, or items, or the source of such material, that is privileged from disclosure under the provisions of the bill.
House Bill 670 sets out a general limited disclosure provision authorizing a court, in a civil proceeding, to compel a journalist, a journalist's employer, or a person with an independent contract with a journalist to testify regarding or to produce or disclose any information, document, or item or the source of any such material obtained while the person was acting as a journalist if the person seeking such material or its source makes a clear and specific showing that certain circumstances relating to the information and subpoena exist. The bill provides that the publication or dissemination by a news medium or communication service provider of privileged information, documents, or items is not a waiver of the journalist's privilege in a civil proceeding. In a criminal proceeding, a journalist may be compelled to testify regarding or to disclose the confidential source of any information, document, or item obtained while acting as a journalist if the person seeking the testimony, production, or disclosure makes a clear and specific showing that the source of such material was observed by the journalist committing a felony criminal offense, confessed to the journalist the commission of such an offense, or is a person for whom probable cause exists that the person participated in such an offense, and the subpoenaing party has exhausted reasonable efforts to obtain from alternative sources the confidential source. A journalist may also be compelled to testify regarding or disclose the confidential source if disclosure of the confidential source is reasonably necessary to stop or prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm. The bill sets forth the circumstances under which a journalist may be compelled to testify, if the information, document, or item was disclosed or received in violation of a grand jury oath given to either a juror or a witness, and requires the applicable elected attorney to sign an application for a subpoena of a journalist.
House Bill 670 provides for privilege concerning unpublished information, documents, or items and nonconfidential sources, authorizing a court, in a criminal proceeding, after service of subpoena and an opportunity to be heard, to compel a journalist, a journalist's employer, or a person with an independent contract with a journalist to testify regarding or to produce or disclose any unpublished information, document, or item obtained while the person was acting as a journalist, other than material relating to privileged confidential sources, if the person seeking such material shows that all reasonable efforts have been exhausted to obtain the information from alternative sources and makes a showing regarding the relevance of the material to the official proceeding or to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal case. The bill provides that the publication or dissemination by a news medium or communication service provider of privileged information, documents, or items is not a waiver of the journalist's privilege regarding sources and unpublished information, documents, or items and requires the subpoenaing party to pay a journalist a reasonable fee for the journalist's time and costs incurred in providing the subpoenaed material in a criminal proceeding. The bill's provisions relating to a journalist's qualified testimonial privilege in criminal proceedings do not apply to any information, document, or item that has at any time been published or broadcast by the journalist.