Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas House Bill HB1468 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Sheets, Fallon (Senate Sponsor - Huffman) H.B. No. 1468
2	2	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2013;
3	3	May 10, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on State
4	4	Affairs; May 20, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote:
5	5	Yeas 5, Nays 2; May 20, 2013, sent to printer.)
6	6
7	7
8	8	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	9	AN ACT
10	10	relating to confidential communications between an insurance
11	11	carrier and a covered employer under the Texas Workers'
12	12	Compensation Act.
13	13	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
14	14	SECTION 1. Section 409.011, Labor Code, is amended by
15	15	adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
16	16	(d) For purposes of this subsection, a reference to the
17	17	insurance carrier or covered employer includes the insurance
18	18	carrier's or covered employer's attorneys, consultants, sureties,
19	19	indemnitors, employees, third-party administrators, and other
20	20	agents. Communications between an insurance carrier and a covered
21	21	employer are confidential and not subject to disclosure if the
22	22	communications include information regarding mental impressions,
23	23	conclusions, opinions, claims-handling strategies, litigation
24	24	strategies, legal theories regarding the claim, claim status, claim
25	25	reserves, or proprietary business practices of the insurance
26	26	carrier or covered employer or other similar classes of information
27	27	and are made in furtherance of the covered employer's rights,
28	28	including rights described by Subsections (b)(1)-(5) and Section
29	29	415.002(b). An insurance carrier may refuse to disclose and may
30	30	prevent the disclosure by another person of confidential
31	31	communications described by this subsection. This subsection:
32	32	(1) does not apply to:
33	33	(A) communications between the insurance carrier
34	34	and covered employer that are offered as evidence in a judicial
35	35	proceeding between the insurance carrier and covered employer;
36	36	(B) communications made to the insurance carrier
37	37	by the covered employer in violation of Section 415.002(a)(6); or
38	38	(C) public records subject to Chapter 552,
39	39	Government Code; and
40	40	(2) does not affect:
41	41	(A) the requirement to exchange documentation
42	42	under Chapter 410; or
43	43	(B) the right of the commissioner to obtain
44	44	information from an insurance carrier or an employer.
45	45	SECTION 2. Section 409.011, Labor Code, as amended by this
46	46	Act, applies only to communications between an insurance carrier
47	47	and a covered employer made on or after the effective date of this
48	48	Act.
49	49	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
50	50	* * * * *