IMF C.S.H.B. 1691 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS STATE AFFAIRS C.S.H.B. 1691 By: Eiland 4-27-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Under current law, the attorney general must file a civil action when the Commission on Human Rights acts on behalf of complainants. This requirement does not allow the attorney general to determine if cases are worthy of civil action. The attorney general feels that the requirement to act on all complaints authorized by the Commission on Human Rights has led to frivolous lawsuits in the past. An example of this problem occurred in 1993 when a local government provider for the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Commission began to build a group home in Jasper, Texas. A group of neighbors in the area opposed the home and filed suit. After an appeal to the Beaumont Court of Appeals the group home was allowed to be built and was finished in 1995. The Commission on Human Rights initiated a "commission complaint" against the neighbors who filed a suit against MHMR under the Texas Fair Housing Act. Once the executive director decided to file suit the attorney general had to file suit against the neighbors. The case was tried in January of 1997 and the court found in favor of the neighbors and found that the attorney general had instituted a frivolous lawsuit and fined the state for attorneys fees and court costs. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.H.B. 1691 would give the attorney general discretion whether to file a civil action at the request of the Commission on Human Rights. The bill would require the attorney general to notify the complainant that the Office will not file a suit. 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 301.111 (a), Local Government Code. Adds language to comply with the Attorney General's ability to not take a claim and allows the commission to send the case to an administrative hearing. SECTION 2. Amends Section 301.131, Local Government Code. Deletes the time requirement for Attorney General to file suit. Allows the Attorney General to have the ability to not file suit if the charge is not factual or not a valid legal claim. If the Attorney General does not file the case, the commission can send the case to a administrative hearing. SECTION 3. Makes this Act prospective. SECTION 4. Effective date; September 1, 1997. SECTION 5. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE HB 1691 merely gave the Attorney General discretion when filing suits for the Commission on Human Rights. CSHB 1691 states that the Attorney General will review the commissions' charge, and that if the charge is well grounded in fact and warranted by law, the Attorney General will files the case within 30 days. However, if the charge is not well grounded in fact or not warranted by law, the Attorney General does not file the case and must notify the commission within 30 days. If the Attorney General does not file the case, the commission can send the case to an administrative hearing.