By: Farney H.B. No. 3427
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the confidentiality of birth and death records.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 552.115(a) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) A birth or death record maintained by the bureau of
vital statistics of the Texas Department of Health or a local
registration official is excepted from the requirements of Section
552.021, except that:
(1) a birth record is public information and available
to the public on and after the 125th [75th] anniversary of the date
of birth as shown on the record filed with the bureau of vital
statistics or local registration official;
(2) a death record is public information and available
to the public on and after the 50th [25th] anniversary of the date
of death as shown on the record filed with the bureau of vital
statistics or local registration official;
(3) a general birth index or a general death index
established or maintained by the bureau of vital statistics or a
local registration official is public information and available to
the public to the extent the index relates to a birth record or
death record that is public information and available to the public
under Subdivision (1) or (2);
(4) a summary birth index or a summary death index
prepared or maintained by the bureau of vital statistics or a local
registration official is public information and available to the
public; and
(5) a birth or death record is available to the chief
executive officer of a home-rule municipality or the officer's
designee if:
(A) the record is used only to identify a
property owner or other person to whom the municipality is required
to give notice when enforcing a state statute or an ordinance;
(B) the municipality has exercised due diligence
in the manner described by Section 54.035(e), Local Government
Code, to identify the person; and
(C) the officer or designee signs a
confidentiality agreement that requires that:
(i) the information not be disclosed
outside the office of the officer or designee, or within the office
for a purpose other than the purpose described by Paragraph (A);
(ii) the information be labeled as
confidential;
(iii) the information be kept securely; and
(iv) the number of copies made of the
information or the notes taken from the information that implicate
the confidential nature of the information be controlled, with all
copies or notes that are not destroyed or returned remaining
confidential and subject to the confidentiality agreement.
(d) For the purposes of fulfilling the terms of the
agreement in Subsection (c), the Genealogical Society of Utah shall
have access to birth records on and after the 50th anniversary of
the date of birth as shown on the record filed with the bureau of
vital statistics or local registration official, but such birth
records shall not be made available to the public until the 125th
[75th] anniversary of the date of birth as shown on the record.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to the
release of a birth or death record after the effective date of this
Act, regardless of whether the birth or death record was a public
record before the effective date of this Act under the law as it
existed immediately before the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.