1-1 By: Brimer (Senate Sponsor - Ratliff) H.B. No. 3139
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 1997;
1-3 April 30, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Economic Development; May 18, 1997, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to confidentiality of certain workers' compensation
1-9 information.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 402.083(a), Labor Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (a) Information [in or derived from a claim file] regarding
1-14 an employee's workers' compensation injury, including information
1-15 in or derived from a claim file and information regarding an
1-16 injured employee's claim, [employee] is confidential and may not be
1-17 disclosed by the commission or any other person or entity except as
1-18 provided by this subtitle.
1-19 SECTION 2. Section 402.086(a), Labor Code, is amended to
1-20 read as follows:
1-21 (a) Information relating to a claim that is confidential
1-22 under this subtitle remains confidential when released to or
1-23 obtained by any person or entity, except when used in court for the
1-24 purposes of an appeal.
1-25 SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 407, Labor Code, is amended
1-26 by adding Section 407.0445 to read as follows:
1-27 Sec. 407.0445. CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN INFORMATION. An
1-28 employer applying to self-insure under Chapter 407 or having a
1-29 certificate to self-insure under Chapter 407 may, at any time,
1-30 request that financial statements submitted to the director of
1-31 self-insurance regulation be designated by the director as
1-32 confidential. If the director agrees with the request and grants
1-33 the designation to certain financial statements, the information is
1-34 not open for public disclosure and shall be exempt from the
1-35 disclosure requirements under Chapter 552, Government Code.
1-36 SECTION 4. Section 411.081, Labor Code, is amended by adding
1-37 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-38 (c) All information contained in the commission's files
1-39 regarding reports made through the telephone hotline, including the
1-40 identity of a person who reports a violation under this section, is
1-41 confidential for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code, and may
1-42 not be disclosed to the public or released by the commission except
1-43 as provided by Section 402.085.
1-44 SECTION 5. Section 412.005, Labor Code, is amended by adding
1-45 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-46 (c) Information relating to an open claim that is reported
1-47 to the director under this section by the office of the attorney
1-48 general is exempt from the disclosure requirements imposed under
1-49 Chapter 552, Government Code.
1-50 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
1-51 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
1-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-56 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-57 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-58 * * * * *