Amend HB 2120 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the
bill appropriately:
SECTION ____. Sections 301.081(c) and (d), Labor Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) Employment information [thus] obtained or otherwise
secured under this section may not be published and is not open to
public inspection, other than to a public employee in the
performance of public duties, except as the commission considers
necessary for the proper administration of this title or as
provided by commission rule and consistent with federal law.
(d) A person commits an offense if the person [is an
employee or member of the commission who] violates any provision of
this section. An offense under this subsection is a Class A
misdemeanor [is punishable by a fine of not less than $20 nor more
than $200, confinement in jail for not more than 90 days, or both
fine and confinement].
SECTION ____. Subchapter F, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 301.085 to read as follows:
Sec. 301.085. UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION INFORMATION;
OFFENSE; PENALTY. (a) In this section, "unemployment compensation
information" means information in the records of the commission
that pertains to the administration of Subtitle A, including any
information collected, received, developed, or maintained in the
administration of unemployment compensation benefits or the
unemployment compensation tax system.
(b) Consistent with federal law, the commission shall adopt
and enforce reasonable rules governing the confidentiality,
custody, use, preservation, and disclosure of unemployment
compensation information. The rules must include safeguards to
protect the confidentiality of identifying information regarding
any individual or any past or present employer or employing unit
contained in unemployment compensation information, including any
information that foreseeably could be combined with other publicly
available information to reveal identifying information regarding
the individual, employer, or employing unit, as applicable.
(c) Unemployment compensation information is not public
information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code.
(d) Unless permitted by this subchapter or commission rule,
a person commits an offense if the person solicits, discloses,
receives, or uses, or authorizes, permits, participates in, or
acquiesces in another person's use of, unemployment compensation
information that reveals:
(1) identifying information regarding any individual
or past or present employer or employing unit; or
(2) information that foreseeably could be combined
with other publicly available information to reveal identifying
information regarding any individual or past or present employer or
employing unit.
(e) An offense under Subsection (d) is a Class A
misdemeanor.
SECTION ____. The change in law made by this Act to Section
301.081(d), Labor Code, applies only to an offense committed on or
after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at
the time the offense was committed, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an
offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any
element of the offense was committed before that date.