By Nelson, et al. S.B. No. 867
77R6396 JRD-D
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 and the speaker shall each
1-10 appoint five members to the task force.
1-11 (c) The task force shall elect a presiding officer and
1-12 assistant presiding officer from among its members.
1-13 (d) The task force shall meet at the times and places within
1-14 the state that the task force designates. The task force shall
1-15 develop and implement policies that provide the public with a
1-16 reasonable opportunity to appear before the task force and to speak
1-17 on any issue being studied by the task force.
1-18 (e) A legislative entity shall assist the task force at the
1-19 request of the lieutenant governor or the speaker, and a state
1-20 agency in the executive branch of state government shall assist the
1-21 task force at the request of the task force.
1-22 (f) Chapter 2110, Government Code, does not apply to the
1-23 size or composition of the task force or of the advisory committee
1-24 created under Section 2 of this Act.
2-1 SECTION 2. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. (a) The task force shall
2-2 appoint an advisory committee to assist it in performing its
2-3 duties.
2-4 (b) The advisory committee consists of the number of members
2-5 that the task force considers advisable. The task force shall
2-6 appoint an approximately equal number of members from the public
2-7 and private sectors. Public-sector appointments must include
2-8 representatives from state agencies such as the office of the
2-9 comptroller, the office of the governor, the office of the attorney
2-10 general, the office of the state auditor, the Department of
2-11 Information Resources, the Texas Department of Banking, and the
2-12 Health and Human Services Commission. Private-sector appointments
2-13 must include individuals involved in fields such as banking,
2-14 marketing, the news media, medicine, and information technology.
2-15 The advisory committee must include members who understand the
2-16 implications that advances in information technology have for
2-17 personal privacy.
2-18 SECTION 3. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED LAW. (a) The
2-19 task force shall identify and analyze existing and proposed privacy
2-20 statutes and rules of this state, other states, and the federal
2-21 government. In performing an analysis under this subsection, the
2-22 task force shall address the extent to which the existing or
2-23 proposed privacy statutes and rules:
2-24 (1) benefit individuals;
2-25 (2) impose financial, efficiency, or lost opportunity
2-26 costs on governmental entities or private businesses; and
2-27 (3) benefit commerce or benefit governmental
3-1 effectiveness or efficiency by creating an environment in which
3-2 individuals are more likely to willingly divulge information about
3-3 themselves.
3-4 (b) The task force shall identify and analyze other existing
3-5 and proposed statutes and rules of this state, other states, and
3-6 the federal government with respect to the manner in which the
3-7 statutes and rules affect individual privacy. In performing an
3-8 analysis under this subsection, the task force shall address the
3-9 extent to which existing or proposed statutes and rules that affect
3-10 individual privacy:
3-11 (1) impose burdens on individuals, adversely affect
3-12 individuals' lives, or contravene commonly held expectations of
3-13 individual privacy;
3-14 (2) benefit governmental entities or private
3-15 businesses with respect to increased revenues or financial gain,
3-16 increased efficiency, or increased opportunities; and
3-17 (3) affect commerce or affect governmental
3-18 effectiveness or efficiency by creating an environment in which
3-19 individuals become less likely to willingly divulge information
3-20 about themselves.
3-21 (c) The office of the attorney general shall coordinate with
3-22 and assist the task force in performing legal analyses under this
3-23 section.
3-24 SECTION 4. STUDY REGARDING CONSENT TO DISCLOSURE. (a) In
3-25 this section, "personal information" means information about an
3-26 individual such as:
3-27 (1) the individual's address, telephone number, social
4-1 security number, date of birth, physical characteristics, and
4-2 similar information about the individual;
4-3 (2) information about an individual's marital status
4-4 or history, whether the individual has family members, and
4-5 information about the individual's family members; and
4-6 (3) personally identifiable information about the
4-7 individual's health or health history, finances or financial
4-8 history, and consumer history.
4-9 (b) The task force shall conduct a study regarding the
4-10 advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility of requiring by law in
4-11 various circumstances that certain personal information may be
4-12 released by a governmental entity or a private business only with
4-13 the prior informed consent of the individual.
4-14 SECTION 5. The task force shall report the results of its
4-15 study and its recommendations to the lieutenant governor and the
4-16 speaker by not later than November 1, 2002. The task force shall
4-17 include in its report its conclusions regarding the advisability of
4-18 enacting legislation with respect to each of the topics that the
4-19 task force studied.
4-20 SECTION 6. The task force and advisory committee are
4-21 abolished and this Act expires September 1, 2003.
4-22 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
4-23 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
4-24 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
4-25 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
4-26 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.