BILL ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2012
By: Turner
4-12-95
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND
Currently, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) records
relating to consumer identity, information, and private landowner
plans are unrestricted. Consumers and private landowners are
requesting the Department to maintain these records as confidential
or provide commission policies to deal with consumer
confidentiality.
PURPOSE
C.S.H.B. 2012 amends Parks and Wildlife Code by adding Section
11.030. This will provide for confidentiality of personal customer
information, such as name, address, social security number,
driver's license number, and charge card or band account numbers of
persons who purchase products, licenses, or services from the
department. Information could be used or released in accordance
with commission policy, and provide a mechanism for a person to
request exclusion of their personal information from such lists.
The bill also provides for confidentiality of information collected
during technical guidance to private landowners. Section 12.0251 is
added to provide that information collected in conjunction with a
plan or recommendation in cooperation with a private landowner is
confidential and can only be disclosed to the owner. No other
information can be disclosed without the written consent of the
landowner, although the department may summarize game census,
harvest, habitat, or program information such that it does not
identify specific parcels. If the confidentiality provision is
ever modified, written guidance must be obtained for materials.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that additional rulemaking authority
is expressly granted to Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in
SECTION 1 [Sec. 11.030(c)] and SECTION 2 [Sec. 12.025(d)] of this
bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife
Code, by adding the following:
Sec.11.030. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL CUSTOMER INFORMATION. (a)
Provides for customer information that may not be disclosed by
the department except as authorized by Section 12.0251.
(b) Provides for the exclusion of information listed in
Subsection (a) from Chapter 552, Government Code (Open Records
Act).
(c) Requires the commission to adopt policies relating to the
release and use of information obtained by the department. Also
requires them to adopt policy regarding the sale of a mailing list
consisting of the names and addresses of persons who purchase customer products, licenses, or services from the department.
(d) Requires the commission to include in its policies a
method for a person to exclude information about the person
from a mailing list sold by the department by request.
(e) Allows the commission to disclose customer information to
federal or state law enforcement agencies if the agency
provides a lawfully issued subpoena.
(f) Provides that the department and its officers are immune
from civil liability for an unintentional violation of this
section.
(g) Provides that a reference to the department includes a
reference to an agent of the department for the purposes of this
section.
SECTION 2. Amends Section 12.025, Parks and Wildlife Code, by
adding Subsections (c)-(e).
(c) Requires the department to provide notice of Section
12.0251 to a private landowner who requests technical
assistance before entering the property to collect information.
(d) Requires the commission to adopt rules including written
guidelines for providing notice required under Subsection (c)
of this section and for departmental entry onto private land to
collect information described in Section 12.0251(a). The policies
and guidelines must identify the maximum information that the
department may maintain under Section 12.0251.
(e) Provides that an update of a record or plan produced by
the department under Section 12.0251 may be requested by the
landowner or the department.
SECTION 3. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 12, Parks and Wildlife
Code, by adding the following:
Sec. 12.0251. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED DURING TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TO PRIVATE LANDOWNER. (a) Provides that
information collected by the department in response to a
landowner request relating to the specific location, species
identification, or quantity of any animal or plant life that is
protected by this code and located on private land and that is
subjected to a department developed wildlife management
plan or is the subject of a recommendation report prepared by the department is not subject to the Open Records Act, except as
provided by this section.
(b) Allows the department to disclose information described
in this section only to the landowner unless the landowner
consents to its full or specified partial release and that consent
is in writing attached to the plan or report.
(c) Allows the department to release game census, harvest,
habitat, or program information only if it is summarized in
such a manner that prevents the identification of an
individual or specific parcel of land and landowner.
(d) Requires the department to prepare no more than one
original record of the information collected by the department
and incorporated into a wildlife management plan, and that
record becomes the property of the landowner. The department is
allowed to keep one copy of the record, which may not be
disclosed except as provided by this section.
(e) Requires that, if the protected information status
assigned by this section is revoked, the department shall send
a copy of the information retained by the department to the landowner and destroy the department's record. The department
is allowed to keep a copy if the landowner consents in writing.
(f) Establishes that a reference to the department includes
a reference to an agent of the department for the purposes of
this section.
(g) Establishes that this section does not apply to land that
is not privately owned.
SECTION 4. Emergency clause: effective upon passage.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The original bill was a type-only version from Legislative Council.
The substitute bill is a Legislative Council draft that embodies
all of the original bill's substance in a different form.
A difference that exists between the original and the substitute,
is that the substitute expressly grants the Parks and Wildlife
Commission additional rulemaking authority, where the original bill
did not. The original bill had three sections, the substitute has
four sections.
SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION
H.B. 2012 was considered by the Committee on State Recreational
Resources in a public hearing on April 12, 1995.
The following persons testified in favor of the bill:
Arthur W. Nagel representing Riverside and Landowners
Protection Coalition;
John Welder Cliburn representing Private Lands Advisory Board
to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department;
David Langford representing Texas Wildlife Association; and
Deborah Slator Gillan representing Private Lands Advisory
Board of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The following person testified against the bill:
Ellis Gilleland representing himself.
The committee considered a complete substitute for the bill. The
substitute was adopted without objection.
The vote by which the committee substitute was adopted, was
reconsidered without objection.
The committee considered a complete substitute for the bill. The
substitute was adopted without objection.
The bill was reported favorably as substituted, with the
recommendation that it do pass and be printed, by a record vote of
6 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 3 absent.