BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 370

By: Perry

Delivery of Government Efficiency

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, the personal information of certain government employees is exempt from public disclosure, including such information maintained in property tax appraisal records and by public employers. The bill sponsor has informed the committee that these statutes help ensure that these government employees can keep their home addresses and personal identifying information confidential if they choose to do so. However, current law only provides this protection to a few limited divisions at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), and does not extend this protection to current or former employees of a public defender's office. S.B. 370 would allow all current or former employees of the OAG, as well as those individuals' family members, to obtain these confidentiality protections, regardless of which division they worked in. Additionally, the bill would grant protections to current or former employees of a public defender's office.

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 this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

S.B. 370 amends the Government Code to revise the exception under state public information law for information that relates to the home address, home telephone number, emergency contact information, date of birth, social security number, or existence of family members of certain applicable individuals if the individual chooses to restrict public access to the information and notifies the applicable governmental body of the individual's choice on a form provided by the governmental body as follows:

· changes as an eligible person a current or former employee of the office of the attorney general (OAG) who is or was assigned to a division of the OAG the duties of which involve law enforcement or Title IV-D services to instead make eligible a person who is a current or former employee of the OAG and a family member of such a person;

· makes such exception applicable to a current or former employee of a public defender's office; and

· defines "family member" for purposes of the exception as a minor child, adult child, spouse, or surviving spouse.

The bill establishes that information included in a form submitted to a governmental body by a covered individual notifying the body of the individual's choice to restrict public access to the applicable information, as well as any supplemental information included as part of the submission, are confidential and not subject to disclosure under state public information law.

S.B. 370 revises provisions relating to the exception from the public information availability requirement of state public information law for information relating to the home address, home telephone number, emergency contact information, social security number, or existence of family members of certain qualifying persons as follows:

· changes as an eligible person a current or former employee of the OAG who is or was assigned to a division of the OAG the duties of which involve law enforcement or Title IV-D services regardless of whether the current or former employee complies with the election to disclose applicable information, to instead make eligible a person who is a current or former employee of the OAG and a family member of such an employee, regardless of whether the person complies with such election;

· makes the exception applicable to a current or former employee of a public defender's office regardless of whether the current or former employee complies with the election to disclose applicable information; and

· changes the definition of "family member" for purposes of the exception from a person's spouse, minor child, or adult child who resides in the person's home, to the person's minor child, adult child, spouse, or surviving spouse.

S.B. 370 additionally amends the Tax Code to make similar changes to the persons eligible to make information in appraisal records confidential and available only for the official use of an applicable governmental entity, given the information identifies the home address of the named individual and the individual chooses to restrict public access to the information on a prescribed form.

S.B. 370 establishes that, to the extent of any conflict, its provisions prevail over another Act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes. The bill's provisions apply only to a request for information that is received by a governmental body or an officer on or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.