BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1692

By: Wentworth

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under the Texas Public Information Act, information that relates to the home address, home telephone number, or social security number of an individual who works in law enforcement is confidential and may not be disclosed to the public in certain instances.  Currently, employees of the office of the attorney general who are or were assigned to a division that involves law enforcement are not included in this exception. 

S.B. 1692 amends the public information law and the Tax Code to add current and former personnel from a law enforcement division of the office of the attorney general to the list of individuals for whom information identifying the individual's home address, home telephone number, or social security number or identifying whether the individual has family members is excepted from public availability under the open records law. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1692 amends the Government Code to add a current or former employee of the office of the attorney general who is or was assigned to a division of that office, the duties of which involve law enforcement, to the list of individuals whose addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, and personal family information is confidential and nondisclosable to the public if the individual chooses to restrict public access and notifies the appropriate governmental body of that choice.

S.B. 1692 adds a current or former employee of the office of the attorney general who is or was assigned to a division of that office, the duties of which involve law enforcement, to the list of persons for whom information that relates to the home address, home telephone number, or social security number of the person, or that reveals whether the person has family members, is excepted from the requirements of public availability under the open records law.  The bill establishes that the exception applies regardless of whether the current or former employee complies with specified other statutes relating to the exercise of an option whether to allow or restrict public access.

S.B. 1692 reenacts and amends Section 25.025(a), Tax Code, as amended by Chapters 594 (H.B. 41), 621 (H.B. 455), and 851 (H.B. 1141), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, to add a current or former employee of the office of the attorney general who is or was assigned to a division of that office, the duties of which involve law enforcement, to the list of individuals for whom information in appraisal records identifying the individual's home address is confidential and is only available for the official use of the appraisal district, the state, the comptroller of public accounts, and taxing units and political subdivisions, if the individual chooses to restrict public access by means of the comptroller's prescribed form for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.