HBA-CMT H.B. 1712 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1712 By: Maxey Licensing & Administrative Procedures 3/27/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In the interest of providing the health care consumer with helpful information concerning their physicians, legislation passed in the 76th session instructed the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners to provide profiles of their licensees for the public. Just as choosing a physician is an important decision, choosing an attorney that you trust to fight for your rights or argue for your freedom is an important decision. Currently, the information consumers need in order to make informed decisions about their attorney is not readily available. House Bill 1712 requires the State Bar of Texas to compile a list of attorney profiles that would be made available to the public. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the State Bar of Texas in SECTION 1 (Section 81.115, Government Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 1712 amends the Government Code to require the State Bar of Texas (state bar) to create a profile of each attorney licensed by the state bar and sets forth provisions for what information is required in the profile. The information that is required to be included in a profile that is not maintained by the state bar in the ordinary course of the state bar's duties is required to be obtained from an attorney at the time the attorney pays the annual state bar membership fee. The bill sets forth provisions regarding information and instruction the state bar is required to provide when requesting information from the attorney. The bill provides that the state bar is not required to disclose confidential information included in a profile. The bill requires the state bar to provide an individual attorney with a copy of the attorney's profile if the attorney requests a copy at the time the attorney pays the annual state bar membership fee. The state bar is required to provide the attorney one month from the date the copy is provided to the attorney to correct factual errors in the attorney's profile, and requires the state bar to update the information contained in the attorney's profile on an annual basis if no factual errors are found by an attorney. The bill authorizes the state bar to adopt rules relating to the type and content of additional information to be included in an attorney's profile, and requires the state bar to adopt rules as necessary to implement the provisions of the bill. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.