2023 Texas Statutes › Occupations Code › Title 3 - Health Professions › Subtitle F - Professions Related to Eyes and Vision › Chapter 351 - Optometrists and Therapeutic Optometrists › Subchapter E. Public Interest Information and Complaint Procedures › Section 351.2045. Confidentiality of Complaints, Adverse Reports, Investigation Files, and Other Information

Sec. 351.2045.  CONFIDENTIALITY OF COMPLAINTS, ADVERSE REPORTS, INVESTIGATION FILES, AND OTHER INFORMATION.  (a)  Each complaint, adverse report, investigation file, and other investigation report and all other investigative information in the possession of or received or gathered by the board or the board's employees or agents relating to a license holder, an application for a license, or a criminal investigation or proceeding is privileged and confidential and is not subject to discovery, subpoena, or any other means of legal compulsion for release to anyone other than the board or an employee or agent of the board involved in any disciplinary action relating to a license holder.
(b)  The board shall share information in investigation files, on request, with another state or federal regulatory agency or with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency regardless of whether the investigation has been completed.  The board is not required to disclose under this subsection information that is an attorney-client communication, an attorney work product, or other information protected by a privilege recognized by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure or the Texas Rules of Evidence.
(c)  On the completion of the investigation and before a hearing under Section 351.503, the board shall provide to the license holder, subject to any other privilege or restriction set forth by rule, statute, or legal precedent, access to all information in the board's possession that the board intends to offer into evidence in presenting its case in chief at the contested case hearing on the complaint.  The board is not required to provide:
(1)  a board investigative report or memorandum;
(2)  the identity of a nontestifying complainant;  or
(3)  attorney-client communications, attorney work product, or other materials covered by a privilege recognized by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure or the Texas Rules of Evidence.
(c-1)  The board's providing of information under Subsection (c) does not constitute a waiver of a privilege or confidentiality under this chapter or any other law.
(d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the board may:
(1)  disclose a complaint to the affected license holder;  and
(2)  provide to a complainant the license holder's response to the complaint, if providing the response is considered by the board to be necessary to investigate the complaint.
(e)  This section does not prohibit the board or another party in a disciplinary action from offering into evidence in a contested case under Chapter 2001, Government Code, a record, document, or other information obtained or created during an investigation.
(f)  The board shall protect the identity of a complainant to the extent possible.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 329, Sec. 4.
Amended by:
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 385 (S.B. 314), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2017.
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 385 (S.B. 314), Sec. 6, eff. September 1, 2017.