By: Perry S.B. No. 1248
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the disclosure of certain harvest report information
submitted to the Parks and Wildlife Department.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife
Code, is amended by adding Section 11.0305 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.0305. DISCLOSURE OF HARVEST REPORT INFORMATION.
(a) Information from a report submitted to the department relating
to the recreational harvest authorized by Chapter 42, 46, 50, or 71
of game animals, game birds, fur-bearing animals, nongame animals,
alligators, or fish or other aquatic life, including the specific
location of harvested wildlife, may not be disclosed except as
authorized by this section or Section 12.014.
(b) Chapter 552, Government Code, does not apply to
information from a report described by Subsection (a).
(c) The commission or the department may disclose
information from a report described by Subsection (a) to a federal
or state law enforcement agency if the agency provides a lawfully
issued subpoena.
(d) The department may disclose statistical data and
compilations of information from a report described by Subsection
(a) in a manner that does not identify:
(1) any person who:
(A) submitted the report; or
(B) harvested wildlife as described in the
report; or
(2) any specific location information, including a
photograph, that could be used to identify the location where the
harvest of wildlife described in the report occurred.
(e) The department may disclose information from a report
described by Subsection (a) only to:
(1) an individual identified in the report or that
individual's representative;
(2) another governmental body, including a law
enforcement entity, as needed to carry out a governmental purpose;
or
(3) an entity contracted with the department that has
signed a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting the entity from
disclosing information from the report, if necessary for research,
analysis, or another activity the department determines to be
appropriate.
(f) This section does not authorize the department to
disclose information the department is prohibited from disclosing
by other law.
(g) The department and its officers and employees are immune
from civil liability for an unintentional violation of this
section.
(h) In this section, a reference to the department includes
a reference to an agent of the department.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
disclosure by the Parks and Wildlife Department of information in a
report described by Section 11.0305(a), Parks and Wildlife Code, as
added by this Act, that is made on or after the effective date of
this Act, regardless of when the report containing the information
was submitted to the department.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.