By Brimer H.B. No. 3139
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3139:
By Janek C.S.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 as
1-6 follows:
1-7 Information [in or derived from a claim file] regarding an
1-8 employee's workers' compensation injury, including information in
1-9 or derived from a claim file and information regarding an injured
1-10 employee's claim, is confidential and may not be disclosed by the
1-11 commission or any other person or entity except as provided by this
1-12 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
1-18 the purposes of an appeal.
1-19 SECTION 3. Section 407.002, Labor Code, is added to read as
1-20 follows:
1-21 An employer applying to self-insure under Chapter 407 or
1-22 having a Certificate to Self Insure under Chapter 407 may, at any
1-23 time, request that financial statements submitted to the Director
1-24 of Self Insurance Regulation be designated by the Director as
2-1 confidential. If the Director agrees with the request and grants
2-2 the designation to certain financial statements, the information is
2-3 not open for public disclosure and shall be exempt from the
2-4 disclosure requirements under Chapter 552, Government Code.
2-5 SECTION 4. Section 411.081, Labor Code, is amended by adding
2-6 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
2-7 (c) [All information received by the division under this
2-8 section is confidential and may not be released by the commission
2-9 except as provided by Section 402.085.] All information contained
2-10 in the commission's files regarding reports made through the
2-11 telephone hotline, including the identity of a person who reports a
2-12 violation under this subsection, is confidential for purposes of
2-13 Chapter 552, Government Code, and may not be disclosed to the
2-14 public or released by the commission except as provided by Section
2-15 402.085.
2-16 SECTION 5. Section 412.005, Labor Code, is amended by adding
2-17 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
2-18 (c) Information relating to an open claim that is reported
2-19 to the director under this section by the office of the attorney
2-20 general is exempt from the disclosure requirements imposed under
2-21 Chapter 552, Government Code.
2-22 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-23 SECTION 7. 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 s hereby suspended,
3-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-2 passage and it is so enacted.