BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 251

By: West

Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Civil Practice and Remedies Code recently was amended to allow the use of an unsworn declaration in lieu of a written sworn declaration, verification, certification, oath, or affidavit.  Current law prescribes the format for an unsworn declaration, which requires the declarant to list his or her date of birth and home address.  S.B. 251 provides an alternate format for an unsworn declaration made by an employee of a state agency or of a political subdivision in the performance of the employee's job duties that allows the employee to provide relevant job-related information in lieu of the individual's date of birth and home address.

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. 251 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to require the jurat included in an unsworn declaration made by an employee of a state agency or of a political subdivision in the performance of the employee's job duties to contain, instead of the date of birth and address information that is included in the standard jurat for an unsworn declaration, the governmental agency that employs the employee and a statement that the employee is executing the declaration as part of the employee's assigned duties and responsibilities.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.