BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1307

By: Hinojosa

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns that the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) faces a major challenge in the amount of data it has to process during and after disasters concerning issues most often faced by relief programs and first responders during and after these events. C.S.H.B. 1307 seeks to address these concerns by requiring TDEM to develop and maintain an electronic disaster case management system.

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.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Division of Emergency Management in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1307 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), subject to the availability of funds, to contract with a vendor to develop and maintain an electronic disaster case management system. The bill establishes that the system may be used for case management during and after a disaster by persons selected by TDEM, including a person affected by a disaster and certain entities, and that the system may include the capability for such a person to apply for assistance from multiple sources. The bill requires the system to allow such a person to control which other users of the system have access to information submitted by the person to the system and provides for the confidentiality and limited disclosure of information collected or maintained by the system that could identify such a person. The bill requires TDEM to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1307 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute lists persons and entities that TDEM may select to use the case management system during and after a disaster.

The substitute requires the system to allow persons affected by a disaster to control which other users have access to information submitted by the person to the system and includes provisions providing for the confidentiality and limited disclosure of information collected or maintained by the system that could identify such an affected person.