BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 3719 By: Hunter Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Dates of birth (DOB) appear in various public records, including police reports, legal filings, and election applications. The bill author has informed the committee that DOBs can help verify identities, especially for those with common names, which can be crucial for criminal reporting, background checks, and public vetting of election candidates; however, the Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled in a 2015 case that DOBs were confidential by law, leading to inconsistent access to such information and at times hindering news accuracy, financial transactions, and public record transparency. H.B. 3719 seeks to clarify that DOBs cannot be withheld under state public information law, except in limited cases such as government employee personnel files, thus ensuring DOB availability to support accurate identity verification for journalists, employers, landlords, lenders, and the public. 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 H.B. 3719 amends the Government Code to establish that state public information law does not authorize a governmental body to withhold a date of birth except as follows: as permitted by the exception to such law for information in a personnel file, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, including a transcript from an institution of higher education maintained in the personnel file of a professional public school employee; as permitted by federal privacy requirements adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; or as otherwise provided by constitutional or statutory law. The bill applies only to a request for information that is received by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or after the bill's effective date. A request for information that was received before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request was received, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.
BILL ANALYSIS
# BILL ANALYSIS
H.B. 3719
By: Hunter
Delivery of Government Efficiency
Committee Report (Unamended)
H.B. 3719
By: Hunter
Delivery of Government Efficiency
Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Dates of birth (DOB) appear in various public records, including police reports, legal filings, and election applications. The bill author has informed the committee that DOBs can help verify identities, especially for those with common names, which can be crucial for criminal reporting, background checks, and public vetting of election candidates; however, the Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled in a 2015 case that DOBs were confidential by law, leading to inconsistent access to such information and at times hindering news accuracy, financial transactions, and public record transparency. H.B. 3719 seeks to clarify that DOBs cannot be withheld under state public information law, except in limited cases such as government employee personnel files, thus ensuring DOB availability to support accurate identity verification for journalists, employers, landlords, lenders, and the public.
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 H.B. 3719 amends the Government Code to establish that state public information law does not authorize a governmental body to withhold a date of birth except as follows: as permitted by the exception to such law for information in a personnel file, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, including a transcript from an institution of higher education maintained in the personnel file of a professional public school employee; as permitted by federal privacy requirements adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; or as otherwise provided by constitutional or statutory law. The bill applies only to a request for information that is received by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or after the bill's effective date. A request for information that was received before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request was received, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Dates of birth (DOB) appear in various public records, including police reports, legal filings, and election applications. The bill author has informed the committee that DOBs can help verify identities, especially for those with common names, which can be crucial for criminal reporting, background checks, and public vetting of election candidates; however, the Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled in a 2015 case that DOBs were confidential by law, leading to inconsistent access to such information and at times hindering news accuracy, financial transactions, and public record transparency. H.B. 3719 seeks to clarify that DOBs cannot be withheld under state public information law, except in limited cases such as government employee personnel files, thus ensuring DOB availability to support accurate identity verification for journalists, employers, landlords, lenders, and the public.
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
H.B. 3719 amends the Government Code to establish that state public information law does not authorize a governmental body to withhold a date of birth except as follows:
as permitted by the exception to such law for information in a personnel file, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, including a transcript from an institution of higher education maintained in the personnel file of a professional public school employee;
as permitted by federal privacy requirements adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; or
as otherwise provided by constitutional or statutory law.
The bill applies only to a request for information that is received by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or after the bill's effective date. A request for information that was received before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request was received, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.