BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1274 By: Naishtat April 27, 1995 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently, the Family Code permits domestic relations offices to obtain information from the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Employment Commission on an individual who has 1) been ordered to pay child support; 2) been designated as the father of a child, or; 3) has executed a statement of paternity. The information may include birth date, address, driver's license number, traffic violations, employer, and salary. All information obtained is confidential and privileged information for the exclusive official use of the domestic relations office. It is an offense to relate or disclose the information without the subject's consent. The statute also authorizes the agencies providing the information (Department of Public Safety and Texas Employment Commission) to charge the domestic relations office a fee not to exceed the charge paid by the Attorney General's office for furnishing records under this section. The Secretary of State's office maintains records from voter registration forms which include information that could assist a domestic relations office. Some of the information is required on the voter registration form and some, such as the social security number and phone number, is voluntary. Currently domestic relations offices are not authorized to access the information maintained by the Secretary of State. PURPOSE H.B. 1274 will authorize domestic relations offices to access the following information maintained by the Secretary of State's office: Name, current and former address, sex, birth date, social security number, and telephone number to the extent that this information is available. H.B. 1274 does not require the Secretary of State to compile any additional information. It is understood that voters often do not complete the entire voter registration form. H.B. 1274 also adds the Secretary of State to the agencies that may charge a fee to a domestic relations office for information. Finally, the information obtained from the Secretary of State would fall under the same confidentiality requirements as that obtained from other agencies. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 203.012, Family Code, as added by H.B. 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, by amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (g) to add the office of the secretary of state to the agencies that may charge a domestic relations office a fee for furnishing records under this section. Authorizes a domestic relations office to obtain certain information about a registered voter from the office of the secretary of state. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE CSHB 1274 changes section numbers to correspond to the recodification of Title 2 of the Family Code as enacted by HB 655. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION On 12 April 1995, H.B. 1274 was considered in a public hearing. The following person testified in favor of the bill: Bruce Elfant, representing himself. The following persons testified neutrally on the bill: Brent Sandbak, Texas Fathers; Ann McGeehan, Secretary of State, Elections Division. H.B. 1274 was reported favorably without amendment with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by a record vote of 6 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 3 absent. On 25 April 1995, in a formal meeting, the vote by which H.B. 1274 was reported favorably was reconsidered without objection. The committee considered a complete substitute which was adopted without objection. H.B. 1274 was reported favorably as substituted with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed and be sent to the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars by a record vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 2 absent.