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78R2320 JMM-F

By:  Carona                                                       S.B. No. 211



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the licensing and regulation of chiropractors.                    
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 201, Occupations Code, is 
amended by adding Section 201.206 to read as follows:
	Sec. 201.206.  CONFIDENTIALITY OF INVESTIGATION FILES.  (a)  
The board's investigation files are confidential, privileged, and 
not subject to discovery, subpoena, or any other means of legal 
compulsion for release other than to the board or an employee or 
agent of the board.
	(b)  On request, the board may provide, at the completion of 
an investigation, information contained in the investigation file 
to the license holder under investigation.  The board may share 
information in investigation files with another state or federal 
regulatory agency or with a local, state, or federal law 
enforcement agency.  The board is not required to disclose 
information that is an attorney-client communication, an attorney 
work product, or other information protected by a privilege 
recognized by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure or the Texas Rules 
of Evidence.
	(c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the board may:                     
		(1)  disclose a complaint to the affected license 
holder; and        
		(2)  provide to a complainant the license holder's 
response to the complaint, if providing the response is considered 
by the board to be necessary to investigate the complaint.
	(d) This section does not prohibit the board or another party 
in a disciplinary action from offering into evidence in a contested 
case under Chapter 2001, Government Code, a record, document, or 
other information obtained or created during an investigation.
	SECTION 2.  Section 201.355(a), Occupations Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
	(a)  The board may renew without reexamination an expired 
license of a person who was licensed in this state, moved to another 
state or foreign country, and is currently licensed in good 
standing and has been in practice in the other state or foreign 
country for the two years preceding application.
	SECTION 3.  Section 201.303(b), Occupations Code, is 
repealed.               
	SECTION 4.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                      
	(b)  Section 201.206, Occupations Code, as added by this Act, 
applies to a complaint or investigation pending on the effective 
date of this Act or filed on or after that date.
	(c)  The change in law made by this Act by the amendment of 
Section 201.355(a), Occupations Code, applies only to an 
application to renew a license filed on or after the effective date 
of this Act.  An application to renew a license filed before the 
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the 
date the application was filed, and the former law is continued in 
effect for that purpose.