By Lindsay S.B. No. 968
76R6350 KLA-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to access to criminal history record information for
1-3 certain hospitals and hospital districts.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 411.136 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 411.136. ACCESS TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION:
1-8 PUBLIC HOSPITALS AND HOSPITAL DISTRICTS. (a) In this section,
1-9 "public hospital" means a hospital that is owned, operated, or
1-10 leased by a county, municipality, or hospital authority.
1-11 (b) A public hospital or hospital district is entitled to
1-12 obtain from the department criminal history record information
1-13 maintained by the department that relates to a person who is:
1-14 (1) an applicant for employment or a volunteer
1-15 position with the public hospital or hospital district;
1-16 (2) an employee of or volunteer with the public
1-17 hospital or hospital district; or
1-18 (3) an applicant for employment with or an employee of
1-19 a person or business that contracts with the public hospital or
1-20 hospital district.
1-21 (c) The public hospital or hospital district shall adopt a
1-22 uniform method to obtain criminal history information from persons
1-23 described by Subsection (b). The public hospital or hospital
1-24 district may require the complete name, driver's license number,
2-1 fingerprints, or social security number of those persons.
2-2 (d) The public hospital or hospital district may dismiss a
2-3 person or deny a person employment or a volunteer position or
2-4 refuse to allow a person to work in a public hospital or hospital
2-5 district facility if:
2-6 (1) the person fails or refuses to provide information
2-7 described by Subsection (c); or
2-8 (2) the person's criminal history record information
2-9 reveals a conviction or deferred adjudication that renders the
2-10 person unqualified or unsuitable for employment or a volunteer
2-11 position.
2-12 (e) All criminal history record information received by a
2-13 public hospital or hospital district under this section is
2-14 privileged, confidential, and intended for the exclusive use of the
2-15 entity that obtained the information. The public hospital or
2-16 hospital district may not release or disclose criminal history
2-17 record information to any person or agency except in a criminal
2-18 proceeding, in a hearing conducted by the public hospital or
2-19 hospital district, to another governmental entity as required by
2-20 law, or as required by court order.
2-21 (f) The public hospital or hospital district shall develop
2-22 procedures for the custody and use of information obtained under
2-23 this section. After use of the information, the public hospital or
2-24 hospital district administrator or the administrator's designee
2-25 shall destroy the information in accordance with the public
2-26 hospital's or hospital district's document destruction procedures.
2-27 (g) A public hospital, hospital district, 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.