74R10274 PAM-F
By Turner of Coleman H.B. No. 2012
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the disclosure of certain information collected by the
1-3 Parks and Wildlife Department.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife
1-6 Code, is amended by adding Section 11.030 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 11.030. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL CUSTOMER INFORMATION.
1-8 (a) The name and address and a telephone, social security,
1-9 driver's license, bank account, credit card, or charge card number
1-10 of a person who purchases customer products, licenses, or services
1-11 from the department may not be disclosed except as authorized under
1-12 this section or Section 12.0251.
1-13 (b) Chapter 552, Government Code, does not apply to customer
1-14 information described by Subsection (a).
1-15 (c) The commission by rule shall adopt policies relating to:
1-16 (1) the release of the customer information;
1-17 (2) the use of the customer information by the
1-18 department; and
1-19 (3) the sale of a mailing list consisting of the names
1-20 and addresses of persons who purchase customer products, licenses,
1-21 or services.
1-22 (d) The commission shall include in its policies a method
1-23 for a person by request to exclude information about the person
1-24 from a mailing list sold by the department.
2-1 (e) The commission or department may disclose customer
2-2 information to a federal or state law enforcement agency if the
2-3 agency provides a lawfully issued subpoena.
2-4 (f) The department and its officers and employees are immune
2-5 from civil liability for an unintentional violation of this
2-6 section.
2-7 (g) In this section, a reference to the department includes
2-8 a reference to an agent of the department.
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 12.025, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
2-10 amended by adding Subsections (c)-(e) to read as follows:
2-11 (c) The department shall provide notice of Section 12.0251
2-12 to a private landowner who requests technical assistance before
2-13 entering the property to collect and record information about
2-14 animal or plant life.
2-15 (d) The commission by rule shall adopt policies, including
2-16 written guidelines for a method for providing notice under
2-17 Subsection (c) and for departmental entry onto privately owned land
2-18 to collect information described by Section 12.0251(a). The
2-19 policies and guidelines must identify the maximum information that
2-20 the department may maintain under Section 12.0251.
2-21 (e) A review or update of a record or plan produced by the
2-22 department under Section 12.0251 and maintained by the landowner or
2-23 the landowner's agent may be requested by the landowner or the
2-24 department.
2-25 SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 12, Parks and Wildlife
2-26 Code, is amended by adding Section 12.0251 to read as follows:
2-27 Sec. 12.0251. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED DURING
3-1 TECHNICAL GUIDANCE TO PRIVATE LANDOWNER. (a) Except as provided
3-2 by this section, information is not subject to Chapter 552,
3-3 Government Code, and may not be disclosed if the information is
3-4 collected by the department in response to a landowner request
3-5 relating to the specific location, species identification, or
3-6 quantity of any animal or plant life that is:
3-7 (1) protected by this code; and
3-8 (2) located on private land that:
3-9 (A) is subject to a wildlife management plan
3-10 developed cooperatively with the department for private land; or
3-11 (B) is the subject of a recommendation report
3-12 prepared by the department for the landowner.
3-13 (b) The commission or the department may disclose
3-14 information described by this section only to the landowner unless:
3-15 (1) the landowner consents to full or specified
3-16 partial disclosure of information; and
3-17 (2) the consent is in writing and is attached to the
3-18 plan or recommendation report.
3-19 (c) The department may release game census, harvest,
3-20 habitat, or program information only if the information is
3-21 summarized in a manner that prevents the identification of an
3-22 individual or specific parcel of land and the landowner.
3-23 (d) The department may prepare not more than one original
3-24 record of the information collected by the department and
3-25 incorporated into a wildlife management plan, and the record
3-26 becomes the property of the landowner. The department may retain
3-27 one copy of the record. The retained copy may not be disclosed
4-1 except as provided by this section.
4-2 (e) Except as provided by this subsection, the department
4-3 shall send a copy of the information retained by the department
4-4 relating to a landowner's property to the landowner and destroy the
4-5 department's record of the information if the protected information
4-6 status assigned by this section is revoked. The department may
4-7 retain a copy of the information if the landowner consents in
4-8 writing.
4-9 (f) In this section, a reference to the department includes
4-10 a reference to an agent of the department.
4-11 (g) This section does not apply to a parcel of land that is
4-12 not privately owned.
4-13 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-19 passage, and it is so enacted.