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79R1944 SGA-F
By: West S.B. No. 504
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the filing of certain information by arbitrators after
each arbitration.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 7, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 181 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 181. ARBITRATOR REQUIREMENTS
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 181.001. POLICY; FINDINGS. (a) State and federal
policy favors submitting disputes to arbitration. The benefits of
arbitration include quicker and less expensive resolution of
disputes than is generally available by litigation.
(b) It is this state's policy to ensure that a person's right
to the fair and impartial hearing and resolution of a civil
complaint is not infringed. To protect that right, it is in the
public interest and is the purpose of this chapter to require the
provision of information needed to evaluate whether the public
policy supporting arbitration is being served and to establish a
basic system for evaluating and ensuring the accountability of
arbitrators and arbitration services providers.
Sec. 181.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Arbitration panel" means a group or panel of
arbitrators.
(2) "Arbitration services provider" means a person
that holds itself out as:
(A) managing, coordinating, or administering
arbitrations;
(B) providing the services of arbitrators;
(C) making referrals or appointments to
arbitrators; or
(D) providing lists of arbitrators.
(3) "Arbitrator" means a neutral individual,
including a member of a panel of neutral individuals, who hears the
claims of the parties to a dispute and renders a decision and who
is:
(A) chosen by the parties to the dispute;
(B) appointed by a court; or
(C) selected by an arbitration services provider
under an agreement of the parties or applicable rules.
(4) "Consumer arbitration" means an arbitration that
arises out of or relates to a transaction in which an individual
acquires or seeks to acquire credit, or the purchase or lease of
goods or services, primarily intended to be used for personal,
family, or household purposes.
(5) "Employment arbitration" means an arbitration
that arises out of or relates to an employment relationship or
prospective employment relationship. The term does not include a
grievance or arbitration proceeding subject to a collective
bargaining agreement.
(6) "Office of court administration" means the Office
of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System.
Sec. 181.003. APPLICABILITY. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), the requirements of this chapter apply to any
consumer arbitration or employment arbitration conducted in this
state that is subject to Chapter 171 or Chapter 1, Federal
Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. Sections 1-16), as amended.
(b) This chapter does not apply to an arbitration conducted
or administered by a self-regulatory organization as defined by the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Section 78c), as
amended, the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq.), as
amended, or regulations adopted under those acts.
[Sections 181.004-181.050 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER B. DISCLOSURE PROCEDURES
Sec. 181.051. DISCLOSURE FILING. For each consumer
arbitration or employment arbitration conducted in this state, the
arbitrator or arbitration panel that conducts the arbitration or,
if an arbitration services provider administers the arbitration,
the arbitration services provider shall file an arbitration
disclosure with the office of court administration before the 90th
day after the date the arbitration award is signed.
Sec. 181.052. DISCLOSURE INFORMATION. The disclosure must
contain the following information:
(1) the names of the parties to the dispute;
(2) the name of each party's attorney, if any;
(3) the name of the arbitrator or of each member of the
arbitration panel conducting the arbitration;
(4) the name of the arbitration services provider
administering the arbitration, if any;
(5) a general statement of the nature of the dispute
and the relief requested by each party;
(6) the arbitrator's or the arbitration panel's
decision and award;
(7) the date the award was signed;
(8) the date the arbitrator or arbitration panel was
selected or appointed to conduct the arbitration;
(9) the fees and expenses charged by each arbitrator;
and
(10) the fees and expenses charged by the arbitration
services provider administering the arbitration, if any.
Sec. 181.053. OPTION TO LIMIT DISCLOSURE. (a)
Notwithstanding Section 181.052, the parties may agree to except
from disclosure the information required by Sections 181.052(1),
(2), and (6).
(b) An agreement to limit disclosure may not be entered
into:
(1) before the 20th day after the filing and service of
the demand for arbitration; or
(2) after the close of the arbitration hearing.
(c) The parties shall provide evidence of their agreement to
limit disclosure by signing a form adopted for that purpose by the
office of court administration, under the supervision of the chief
justice.
(d) If the parties agree to limit disclosure:
(1) the arbitrator or arbitration services provider
shall:
(A) retain the original agreement to limit
disclosure in the records of the proceeding until the second
anniversary of the date on which the award is signed; and
(B) provide each party with a copy of the
agreement; and
(2) the arbitrator or arbitration services provider,
as applicable, shall file with the office of court administration
the information not excepted by this section from disclosure in
accordance with this subchapter and shall certify to the office of
court administration that the parties have signed and submitted an
agreement to limit disclosure.
Sec. 181.054. INTERNET SITE FOR INFORMATION. The office of
court administration shall make the information collected under
this subchapter available on its Internet website.
[Sections 181.055-181.100 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER C. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS
Sec. 181.101. LATE FILING FEE. (a) The director of the
office of court administration, under the supervision of the chief
justice, shall implement procedures for the collection of a fee not
to exceed $100 for the late filing of an arbitration disclosure in
accordance with rules adopted by the supreme court for the
efficient administration of justice.
(b) A party to an arbitration, or an attorney for the party,
may report an overdue filing of the arbitration disclosure to the
office of court administration.
(c) An arbitration disclosure that is filed within the
period specified by Section 181.051 is not subject to a filing fee.
Sec. 181.102. LATE DISCLOSURE FILERS; INELIGIBILITY FOR
ARBITRATION ADMINISTRATION. (a) An arbitrator, including a member
of an arbitration panel, or arbitration services provider is
ineligible for a court appointment to arbitrate or administer an
arbitration under Section 171.041(b) during the period in which the
arbitrator or panel of which the arbitrator is a member or
arbitration services provider:
(1) fails to file an overdue arbitration disclosure;
or
(2) owes a fee for late filing.
(b) An arbitrator who personally or as a member of an
arbitration panel has failed, or an arbitration services provider
that has failed, three times in the preceding 12-month period to
timely file arbitration disclosures is ineligible for a court
appointment to arbitrate or administer an arbitration under Section
171.041(b) until the first anniversary of the date the office of
court administration receives the third report of an overdue filing
with respect to that arbitrator or arbitration services provider.
(c) The office of court administration shall compile,
maintain, and publish on the Internet an updated list of
arbitrators and arbitration services providers that are ineligible
to conduct or administer a court-ordered arbitration under
Subsection (a) or (b).
(d) The director of the office of court administration,
under the supervision of the chief justice, shall implement a
procedure by which an arbitrator or arbitration services provider
can be removed from the published list, in accordance with rules
adopted by the supreme court for the efficient administration of
justice.
(e) The office of court administration and the Texas
Judicial Council shall include in the annual report under Section
71.034, Government Code, a list of the names of all arbitrators or
arbitration services providers who have been on the ineligible list
during the period included in that report.
[Sections 181.103-181.150 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER D. IMMUNITY
Sec. 181.151. IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY. An arbitrator
or arbitration services provider is immune from civil liability for
providing information required for compliance with this chapter
unless the complaining party proves that the arbitrator or
arbitration services provider recklessly or knowingly provided
false information.
SECTION 2. (a) For the purposes of this section, the date an
arbitration is commenced is the date an arbitrator, as defined by
Section 181.002, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this
Act, is selected or appointed.
(b) Chapter 181, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added
by this Act, applies only to an arbitration commenced on or after
January 1, 2006. An arbitration commenced before January 1, 2006,
is governed by the law applicable to arbitrations immediately
before January 1, 2006, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2006.