By: Nelson, Sibley S.B. No. 867
Shapleigh
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation, operation, and duties of a joint interim
1-3 task force to study various issues affecting personal privacy.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. TASK FORCE ON PERSONAL PRIVACY. (a) The
1-6 lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of representatives
1-7 shall establish a joint interim task force to study issues
1-8 identified by this Act that affect personal privacy.
1-9 (b) The lieutenant governor shall appoint five senators and
1-10 the speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint five
1-11 members of the house of representatives to the task force.
1-12 (c) The task force shall elect a presiding officer and
1-13 assistant presiding officer from among its members.
1-14 (d) The task force shall meet at the times and places within
1-15 the state that the task force designates. The task force shall
1-16 develop and implement policies that provide the public with a
1-17 reasonable opportunity to appear before the task force and to speak
1-18 on any issue being studied by the task force.
1-19 (e) A legislative entity shall assist the task force at the
1-20 request of the lieutenant governor or the speaker of the house of
1-21 representatives, and a state agency in the executive branch of
1-22 state government shall assist the task force at the request of the
1-23 task force.
1-24 (f) Chapter 2110, Government Code, does not apply to the
1-25 size or composition of the task force or of the advisory committee
2-1 created under Section 2 of this Act.
2-2 SECTION 2. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. (a) The task force shall
2-3 appoint an advisory committee to assist it in performing its
2-4 duties.
2-5 (b) The advisory committee consists of the number of members
2-6 that the task force considers advisable. The task force shall
2-7 appoint an approximately equal number of members from the public
2-8 and private sectors. Public-sector appointments must include
2-9 representatives from state agencies such as the office of the
2-10 comptroller of public accounts, the office of the governor, the
2-11 office of the attorney general, the office of the state auditor,
2-12 the Texas Department of Insurance, the Department of Information
2-13 Resources, the Texas Department of Banking, and the Health and
2-14 Human Services Commission. Private-sector appointments must
2-15 include individuals involved in fields such as banking, marketing,
2-16 the news media, medicine, consumer affairs, and information
2-17 technology. The advisory committee must include members who
2-18 understand the implications that advances in information technology
2-19 have for personal privacy.
2-20 SECTION 3. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED LAW. (a) The
2-21 task force shall identify and analyze existing and proposed privacy
2-22 statutes and rules of this state, other states, and the federal
2-23 government. In performing an analysis under this subsection, the
2-24 task force shall address the extent to which the existing or
2-25 proposed privacy statutes and rules:
2-26 (1) benefit individuals;
3-1 (2) impose financial, efficiency, or lost opportunity
3-2 costs on governmental entities or private businesses; and
3-3 (3) benefit commerce or benefit governmental
3-4 effectiveness or efficiency by creating an environment in which
3-5 individuals are more likely to willingly divulge information about
3-6 themselves.
3-7 (b) The task force shall identify and analyze other existing
3-8 and proposed statutes and rules of this state, other states, and
3-9 the federal government with respect to the manner in which the
3-10 statutes and rules affect individual privacy. In performing an
3-11 analysis under this subsection, the task force shall address the
3-12 extent to which existing or proposed statutes and rules that affect
3-13 individual privacy:
3-14 (1) impose burdens on individuals, adversely affect
3-15 individuals' lives, or contravene commonly held expectations of
3-16 individual privacy;
3-17 (2) benefit governmental entities or private
3-18 businesses with respect to increased revenues or financial gain,
3-19 increased efficiency, or increased opportunities; and
3-20 (3) affect commerce or affect governmental
3-21 effectiveness or efficiency by creating an environment in which
3-22 individuals become less likely to willingly divulge information
3-23 about themselves.
3-24 (c) The office of the attorney general shall coordinate with
3-25 and assist the task force in performing legal analyses under this
3-26 section.
4-1 SECTION 4. STUDY REGARDING CONSENT TO DISCLOSURE. (a) In
4-2 this section, "personal information" means information about an
4-3 individual such as:
4-4 (1) the individual's address, telephone number, social
4-5 security number, date of birth, physical characteristics, and
4-6 similar information about the individual;
4-7 (2) information about an individual's marital status
4-8 or history, whether the individual has family members, and
4-9 information about the individual's family members; and
4-10 (3) personally identifiable information about the
4-11 individual's health or health history, finances or financial
4-12 history, and consumer history.
4-13 (b) The task force shall conduct a study regarding the
4-14 advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility of requiring by law in
4-15 various circumstances that certain personal information may be
4-16 released by a governmental entity or a private business only with
4-17 the prior informed consent of the individual.
4-18 SECTION 5. REPORT. The task force shall report the results
4-19 of its study and its recommendations to the lieutenant governor and
4-20 the speaker of the house of representatives by not later than
4-21 November 1, 2002. The task force shall include in its report its
4-22 conclusions regarding the advisability of enacting legislation with
4-23 respect to each of the topics that the task force studied.
4-24 SECTION 6. EXPIRATION DATE. The task force and advisory
4-25 committee are abolished and this Act expires September 1, 2003.
4-26 SECTION 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
5-1 immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members
5-2 elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III,
5-3 Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote
5-4 necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1,
5-5 2001.