By Brimer                                             H.B. No. 3139

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to confidentiality of certain workers' compensation

 1-3     information.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 402.083(a), Labor Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  Information [in or derived from a claim file] regarding

 1-8     an employee's workers' compensation injury, including information

 1-9     in or derived from a claim file and information regarding an

1-10     injured employee's claim, [employee] is confidential and may not be

1-11     disclosed by the commission or any other person or entity except as

1-12     provided by this subtitle.

1-13           SECTION 2.  Section 402.086(a), Labor Code, is amended to

1-14     read as follows:

1-15           (a)  Information relating to a claim that is confidential

1-16     under this subtitle remains confidential when released to or

1-17     obtained by any person or entity, except when used in court for the

1-18     purposes of an appeal.

1-19           SECTION 3.  Subchapter A, Chapter 407, Labor Code, is amended

1-20     by adding Section 407.0445 to read as follows:

1-21           Sec. 407.0445.  CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.  An

1-22     employer applying to self-insure under Chapter 407 or having a

1-23     certificate to self-insure under Chapter 407 may, at any time,

1-24     request that financial statements submitted to the director of

 2-1     self-insurance regulation be designated by the director as

 2-2     confidential.  If the director agrees with the request and grants

 2-3     the designation to certain financial statements, the information is

 2-4     not open for public disclosure and shall be exempt from the

 2-5     disclosure requirements under Chapter 552, Government Code.

 2-6           SECTION 4.  Section 411.081, Labor Code, is amended by adding

 2-7     Subsection (c) to read as follows:

 2-8           (c)  All information contained in the commission's files

 2-9     regarding reports made through the telephone hotline, including the

2-10     identity of a person who reports a violation under this section, is

2-11     confidential for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code, and may

2-12     not be disclosed to the public or released by the commission except

2-13     as provided by Section 402.085.

2-14           SECTION 5.  Section 412.005, Labor Code, is amended by adding

2-15     Subsection (c) to read as follows:

2-16           (c)  Information relating to an open claim that is reported

2-17     to the director under this section by the office of the attorney

2-18     general is exempt from the disclosure requirements imposed under

2-19     Chapter 552, Government Code.

2-20           SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-26     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-27     passage, and it is so enacted.