By McClendon                                            H.B. No. 49
         77R275 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the release of certain workers' compensation records to
 1-3     certain persons.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 402.084(b) and (c), Labor Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  Information on a claim may be released as provided by
 1-8     Subsection (a)  to:
 1-9                 (1)  the employee or the employee's legal beneficiary;
1-10                 (2)  the employee's or the legal beneficiary's
1-11     representative;
1-12                 (3)  the employer at the time of injury;
1-13                 (4)  the insurance carrier;
1-14                 (5)  the Texas Certified Self-Insurer Guaranty
1-15     Association established under Subchapter G, Chapter 407, if that
1-16     association has assumed the obligations of an impaired employer;
1-17                 (6)  the Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty
1-18     Association, if that association has assumed the obligations of an
1-19     impaired insurance company;  [or]
1-20                 (7)  a third-party litigant in a lawsuit in which the
1-21     cause of action arises from the incident that gave rise to the
1-22     injury; or
1-23                 (8)  a litigant in a subsequent lawsuit in which the
1-24     employee's prior injury information may be relevant.
 2-1           (c)  The requirements of Subsection (a)(1) do not apply to a
 2-2     request from a [third-party] litigant described by Subsection
 2-3     (b)(7) or (8).
 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
 2-5     applies only to a request for information made with respect to a
 2-6     suit that is commenced on or after that date.  A request for
 2-7     information made with respect to a suit commenced before the
 2-8     effective date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the
 2-9     suit immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that
2-10     law is continued in effect for that purpose.