Bill Text: TX HB8 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Relating to access by a hiring law enforcement agency to an applicant's employment records.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-04 - Referred to Jurisprudence [HB8 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB8-Engrossed.html
| By: Pacheco, White, Dean, Guillen, Collier, | H.B. No. 8 | |
| et al. | ||
|
|
||
|
|
||
| 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. | ||
