BILL ANALYSIS |
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C.S.H.B. 3356 |
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By: King, Tracy O. |
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Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence |
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Committee Report (Substituted) |
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note recent reports detailing the high incidence of mistreatment of certain individuals who have entered into structured settlement agreements which allow an individual receiving an annuity to sell a portion of that annuity for a lump sum. These parties express concern regarding the public availability of information relevant to the individual or agreement, which may increase the risk of identity theft or harassment. C.S.H.B. 3356 seeks to address this issue by providing for certain information found in such an agreement to be redacted.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 3356 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to require a court, if an application under the Structured Settlement Protection Act for approval of a transfer of structured settlement payment rights includes a written request by the payee to conceal from public inspection the personally identifiable information of the payee and the court and each interested party required to receive notice receive complete, unredacted copies of the application, other pleadings, and any order in the prescribed time before the hearing on the application, as applicable, to permit the full redaction in any application, other pleadings, or any order filed or submitted of the name of the payee, the address of the payee, or other information that could reasonably be used to determine the identity or address of the payee, including the names of dependents, family members, and beneficiaries. The bill, with respect to any order issued approving or denying the transfer of structured settlement payment rights: · requires a copy of the order, with the applicable information redacted, to be filed as part of the public record; · requires an unredacted copy of the order to be issued under seal, and be provided to the transferee and each interested party entitled to notice, at the same time as the filing; and · authorizes the court on its own initiative, or requires the court on the motion of any person including a member of the general public, to unseal the unredacted order and make the order part of the public record not earlier than six months after the date the order is issued.
C.S.H.B. 3356 makes a specified rule of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedures relating to sealing court records applicable to all court proceedings and filings under the Structured Settlement Protection Act, but exempts a party from that rule in order to redact the payee's personally identifiable information under the bill's provisions or for the purpose of issuing an unredacted copy of the order under seal under the bill's provisions.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 3356 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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