By: Lindsay S.B. No. 968
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to access to criminal history record information for
1-2 certain hospitals and hospital districts.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Section 411.136 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 411.136. ACCESS TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION:
1-7 PUBLIC HOSPITALS AND HOSPITAL DISTRICTS. (a) In this section,
1-8 "public hospital" means a hospital that is owned, operated, or
1-9 leased by a county, municipality, or hospital authority.
1-10 (b) A public hospital or hospital district is entitled to
1-11 obtain from the department criminal history record information
1-12 maintained by the department that relates to a person who is:
1-13 (1) an applicant for employment or a volunteer
1-14 position with the public hospital or hospital district;
1-15 (2) an employee of or a volunteer with the public
1-16 hospital or hospital district; or
1-17 (3) an applicant for employment with or an employee of
1-18 a person or business that contracts with the public hospital or
1-19 hospital district.
1-20 (c) The public hospital or hospital district shall adopt a
1-21 uniform method to obtain criminal history information from persons
1-22 described by Subsection (b). The public hospital or hospital
1-23 district may require the complete name, driver's license number,
1-24 fingerprints, or social security number of those persons.
2-1 (d) The public hospital or hospital district may dismiss a
2-2 person or deny a person employment or a volunteer position or
2-3 refuse to allow a person to work in a public hospital or hospital
2-4 district facility if:
2-5 (1) the person fails or refuses to provide information
2-6 described by Subsection (c); or
2-7 (2) the person's criminal history record information
2-8 reveals a conviction or deferred adjudication that renders the
2-9 person unqualified or unsuitable for employment or a volunteer
2-10 position.
2-11 (e) All criminal history record information received by a
2-12 public hospital or hospital district under this section is
2-13 privileged, confidential, and intended for the exclusive use of the
2-14 entity that obtained the information. The public hospital or
2-15 hospital district may not release or disclose criminal history
2-16 record information to any person or agency except in a criminal
2-17 proceeding, in a hearing conducted by the public hospital or
2-18 hospital district, to another governmental entity as required by
2-19 law, or as required by court order.
2-20 (f) The public hospital or hospital district shall develop
2-21 procedures for the custody and use of information obtained under
2-22 this section. After use of the information, the public hospital or
2-23 hospital district administrator or the administrator's designee
2-24 shall destroy the information in accordance with the public
2-25 hospital's or hospital district's document destruction procedures.
2-26 (g) A public hospital, a hospital district, a member of the
3-1 governing board of the public hospital or hospital district, or an
3-2 employee of a public hospital or hospital district is not civilly
3-3 liable for failure to comply with this chapter if the public
3-4 hospital or hospital district makes a good faith effort to comply.
3-5 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.