HBA-DMH H.B. 3042 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3042 By: Lewis, Glenn Business & Industry 4/6/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In 1999, the legislature enacted legislation to grant immunity from civil liability to an employer who discloses truthful information about an employee's performance to a prospective employer. When releasing such information, an employer could make disparaging statements to a prospective employer without an employee's knowledge, thus inhibiting an employee's opportunity to address the validity of the statements. House Bill 3042 modifies the authority of an employer to disclose employee information to a prospective employer by enabling an employee to contest the accuracy of the information submitted to a prospective employer. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 3042 amends the Labor Code to authorize an employer disclosing information regarding current or former employees to a prospective employer to disclose the information only in writing. Before providing the information to a prospective employer, the bill provides that the disclosing employer must notify the affected employee in writing that the information has been requested. The bill provides that a current or former employee about whom the information is to be disclosed is entitled to a copy of the information before the information is disclosed to a prospective employer if the employee delivers to the disclosing employer a written request for the information not later than the fifth day after the date on which the employee receives the notice. The bill provides that the disclosing employer must provide an affected employee an opportunity to contest the accuracy of the information by submitting a statement of reasonable length to accompany the information to be disclosed to the prospective employer. To accompany the information, the statement must be delivered to the disclosing employer not later than the fifth day after the date the employee receives the copy of the information from the disclosing employer. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.