By Shields                                       H.B. No. 531

      75R2252 SAW-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to expunction of certain records of the Texas Department

 1-3     of Insurance.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 1, Insurance Code, is amended by adding

 1-6     Article 1.10F to read as follows:

 1-7           Art. 1.10F.  EXPUNCTION OF CERTAIN RECORDS.  (a)  In this

 1-8     article, "person" means an individual, corporation, organization,

 1-9     government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,

1-10     estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal

1-11     entity.

1-12           (b)  A person is entitled to expunction of  department

1-13     records  relating to a violation by the person of an article of

1-14     this code, a rule adopted under this code, or any other law related

1-15     to the practice of insurance in this state if:

1-16                 (1)  the person has not committed another violation

1-17     during the six years following the date of the violation;

1-18                 (2)  the violation did not injure a policyholder or an

1-19     insurance company; and

1-20                 (3)  the violation did not involve fraud or criminal

1-21     activity.

1-22           (c)  A person who is entitled to expunction of a record under

1-23     Subsection (b) of this article may file a petition for expunction

1-24     with the commissioner.

 2-1           (d)  A person who files a petition for expunction of a

 2-2     department record shall pay an advance expunction fee to cover the

 2-3     costs of the expunction proceedings.

 2-4           (e)  On receipt of a petition for expunction, the

 2-5     commissioner shall set a hearing on the matter and give reasonable

 2-6     notice of the hearing to appropriate parties.

 2-7           (f)  If the commissioner finds that the person is entitled to

 2-8     expunction of any department record under Subsection (b) of this

 2-9     article, the commissioner shall issue an expunction order.

2-10           (g)  After issuance of an expunction order:

2-11                 (1)  the release, dissemination, or use of the expunged

2-12     record for any purpose is prohibited;

2-13                 (2)  the person for whom the commissioner grants

2-14     expunction may deny the occurrence of the violation and the

2-15     existence of the expunction order; and

2-16                 (3)  the person for whom the commissioner grants

2-17     expunction, when questioned under oath in a criminal proceeding

2-18     about a violation for which the records have been expunged, may

2-19     state only that the matter in question has been expunged.

2-20           (h)  The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this

2-21     article.

2-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.