By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 34
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the civil liability of an employer or former employer of
a mental health services provider who engages in sexual
exploitation of a patient or former patient.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 81.003, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) An employer of a mental health services provider is
liable to a patient or former patient of the mental health services
provider for damages if the patient or former patient is injured as
described by Section 81.002 and the employer:
(1) fails to make inquiries of an employer or former
employer, whose name and address have been disclosed to the
employer and who employed the mental health services provider as a
mental health services provider within the five years before the
date of disclosure, concerning the possible occurrence of sexual
exploitation by the mental health services provider of patients or
former patients of the mental health services provider; or
(2) knows or has reason to know that the mental health
services provider engaged in [the] sexual exploitation of a [the]
patient or former patient and the employer failed to:
(A) report the suspected sexual exploitation as
required by Section 81.006; or
(B) take necessary action to prevent or stop the
sexual exploitation by the mental health services provider.
(b) An employer or former employer of a mental health
services provider is liable to a patient or former patient of the
mental health services provider for damages if the patient or
former patient is injured as described by Section 81.002 and the
employer or former employer:
(1) knows of the occurrence of [the] sexual
exploitation by the mental health services provider of a [the]
patient or former patient;
(2) receives a specific request by an employer or
prospective employer of the mental health services provider,
engaged in the business of providing mental health services,
concerning the possible existence or nature of sexual exploitation
by the mental health services provider; and
(3) fails to disclose the occurrence of the sexual
exploitation.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
this Act. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the cause of
action accrues, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.