1-1 By: Moncrief S.B. No. 567
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 17, 1999; February 18, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Health Services;
1-4 April 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; April 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the penalty for disclosing a person's human
1-9 immunodeficiency virus status.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 81.104, Health
1-12 and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-13 (b) A person who violates Section 81.102 or who is found in
1-14 a civil action to have negligently released or disclosed a test
1-15 result or allowed a test result to become known in violation of
1-16 Section 81.103 is liable for:
1-17 (1) actual damages;
1-18 (2) a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 [$1,000];
1-19 and
1-20 (3) court costs and reasonable attorney's fees
1-21 incurred by the person bringing the action.
1-22 (c) A person who is found in a civil action to have wilfully
1-23 released or disclosed a test result or allowed a test result to
1-24 become known in violation of Section 81.103 is liable for:
1-25 (1) actual damages;
1-26 (2) a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 [$1,000]
1-27 nor more than $10,000 [$5,000]; and
1-28 (3) court costs and reasonable attorney's fees
1-29 incurred by the person bringing the action.
1-30 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-31 (b) The changes in law made by this Act relating to the
1-32 civil penalty for a violation of Section 81.102 or 81.103, Health
1-33 and Safety Code, apply only to a violation that occurs on or after
1-34 the effective date of this Act. For the purposes of this section,
1-35 a violation occurs before the effective date of this Act if any
1-36 element of the violation occurs before that date. A violation that
1-37 occurred before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
1-38 law in effect when the violation occurred, and the former law is
1-39 continued in effect for that purpose.
1-40 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-41 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-42 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-43 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-44 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-45 * * * * *