By: Pacheco, White, Dean, Guillen, Collier, H.B. No. 8
      et al.
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to access by a hiring law enforcement agency to an
  applicant's employment records.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, is amended
  by amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to
  read as follows:
         (a-1)  A law enforcement agency that obtains a consent form
  described by Subsection (a)(2)(B) shall make an electronic copy of
  the person's employment records available to a hiring law
  enforcement agency on request. The commission by rule shall
  prescribe the manner by which a law enforcement agency shall make a
  person's employment records electronically available to a hiring
  law enforcement agency. The rules must provide appropriate privacy
  and security protections.
         (d)  A law enforcement agency that makes a person's
  employment records available to a hiring law enforcement agency
  under Subsection (a-1) shall provide a copy of the records to the
  person.
         (e)  A law enforcement agency that obtains employment
  records under this section may not disclose any information
  contained in the records.
         SECTION 2.  Section 1701.456(b), Occupations Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  A law enforcement agency, agency head, or other law
  enforcement official is not liable for civil damages for:
               (1)  a report made by that agency or person if the
  report is made in good faith; or
               (2)  making a person's employment records available to
  a hiring law enforcement agency under Section 1701.451(a-1).
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter J, Chapter 1701, Occupations Code, is
  amended by adding Section 1701.459 to read as follows:
         Sec. 1701.459.  CERTAIN AGREEMENTS RELATED TO EMPLOYMENT
  RECORDS PROHIBITED. A person licensed under this chapter may not
  enter into an agreement with a law enforcement agency employing the
  person under which the agency is prohibited from making the
  person's employment records available to another law enforcement
  agency under Section 1701.451(a-1).
         SECTION 4.  (a) Not later than December 1, 2021, the Texas
  Commission on Law Enforcement shall adopt rules as necessary to
  comply with Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this
  Act.
         (b)  Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this
  Act, applies only to the hiring of a person by a law enforcement
  agency that occurs on or after December 1, 2021. The hiring of a
  person by a law enforcement agency that occurs before that date is
  governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
  of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.