HBA-MSH, RKM H.B. 46 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 46
By: McClendon
Public Safety
3/14/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

In 1995, the Texas Legislature enacted House Bill 391 to curtail the sale
of accident reports to case runners and other persons who use such
information to solicit business from accident victims for chiropractors,
body shops, wreck yards, and other entities, causing accident victims to
receive sometimes unwanted solicitations. The bill required a person
seeking to obtain a copy of an accident report to provide at least two
pieces of information about the date, location, or one of the persons
involved in the incident, thereby limiting access to reports.  
Case runners are still able to purchase accident surveys or daily dispatch
logs, which provide the purchaser with the information needed to also
obtain police accident reports. Since accident surveys do not fall within
the definition of "accident reports" in current law, information about auto
accidents must still be released to persons who request it under the
provisions of the open records law. Hence, accident victims continue to
receive solicitations, which some of them find to be a violation of their
privacy.  
House Bill 46 closes that loophole by stipulating that information
regarding motor vehicle accidents outside of an accident report can only be
released for official government purposes or to persons who can provide at
least two specified details regarding the incident. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 46 amends the Transportation Code relating to the release of
certain motor vehicle accident information held by the Texas Department of
Public Safety (department) or another governmental entity. The bill
establishes that such information is privileged and only for the
confidential use for official purposes of the department or the other
governmental entity and an agency of the United States, this state, or a
local government of this state.  The motor vehicle accident information to
be released includes information reported as an emergency communication,
information contained in a dispatch log, a towing record, an accident
survey, the record of a 9-1-1 service provider, and the part of any other
record containing the date of the accident, the name of any person involved
in the accident, or the specific location of the accident. 

The bill requires that the department or the other governmental entity
release the information to certain persons, entities, agencies, or courts
that request the information in writing, pay the required fee, and can
verify on a written form adopted by the department or the other
governmental entity that they are a person or entity entitled to receive
such information. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.