Texas Legislature, House of Representatives, Committee on Civil Practices:

An Inventory of Records of the Chair at the Texas State Archives, 1994-1996, 1998-2001

Agency History

The Committee on Civil Practices of the Texas House of Representatives is composed of nine members, with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to fines and penalties arising under civil laws; civil law, including rights, duties, remedies, and procedures thereunder; civil procedure in the courts of Texas; administrative law and the adjudication of rights by administrative agencies; and permission to sue the state. During the 74th Regular Legislative Session (1995), Representative Todd A. Hunter was appointed chairman of the Committee on Civil Practices. Later, Representative Fred Bosse served on the Committee as a member from 1997 to 1998, and as Chair from 1999 to 2002.

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Scope and Contents of the Records

Records consist of minutes, correspondence, agenda, photographs, notices of public hearings, copies of bills, bill analyses, testimony, newsletters, news clippings, fiscal note/impact statement requests, fiscal notes, witness affirmations, reports, surveys, audiocassettes, computer discs, and research material. The materials date from 1994 to 1996 and 1998 to 2001 and are records of Chairs Todd A. Hunter and Fred Bosse of the Texas Legislature's House Committee on Civil Practices. Records reflect work done by the committee and its subcommittees during legislative sessions, as well as interim work of the committee between sessions and routine administrative matters pertaining to the committee. Correspondence is with other members of the committee, state agency officials, other legislative committees, and constituents and generally relates to committee work on pending or proposed legislation. Subjects of the records include civil liability and judgements, liens of health care practitioners, the liability of parties to a contract to improve real property, class actions, the transfer of multi-county civil suits, alternative dispute resolution, structured settlements, and to certain immunity from liability of employees of a school district or public school. Of special note is material relating to sovereign immunity, judicial immunity, contract dispute resolution, actions regarding certain computer date failures (related to the Year 2000 technology issue), the Structured Settlement Protection Act, and the treatment of claims against the state. A few files concern the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, on which Representative Bosse served.

To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Portions of these records may be restricted under V.T.C.A. Texas Government Code Chapter 306, which reads, in part as follows: "to ensure the right of the citizens of this state to petition state government, as guaranteed by Article I, Section 27, of the Texas Constitution, by protecting the confidentiality of communications of citizens with a member of the legislature or the lieutenant governor, the public disclosure of all or part of a written or otherwise recorded communication from a citizen of this state received by a member or the lieutenant governor in his official capacity is prohibited unless: (1) the citizen expressly or by clear implication authorizes the disclosure; (2) the communication is of a type that is expressly authorized by statute to be disclosed; or (3) the official determines that the disclosure does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of the communicator or another person. This section does not apply to a communication to a member of the legislature or the lieutenant governor from a public official or public employee acting in an official capacity. A member or the lieutenant governor may elect to disclose all or part of a communication to which this section applies, and that disclosure does not violate the law of this state." No member has elected to disclose all or part of the communications contained within these committee records.

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions, an archivist must review these records before they can be accessed for research. The records may be requested for research under the provisions of the Public Information Act (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Chapter 552). The researcher may request an interview with an archivist or submit a request by mail, fax, or email including enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information requested. If our review reveals information that may be excepted by the Public Information Act, we are obligated to seek an open records decision from the Attorney General on whether the records can be released. The Public Information Act allows the Archives ten working days after receiving a request to make this determination. The Attorney General has 45 working days to render a decision. Alternately, the Archives can inform you of the nature of the potentially excepted information and if you agree, that information can be redacted or removed and you can access the remainder of the records.

Restrictions on Use

Cotton gloves provided by the Archives mus be used to view the photographs.

Researchers should contact the Archives Preservation Officer to view or use the computer discs and the audio and video cassettes.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Records of the chair, Committee on Civil Practices, House of Representatives, Texas Legislature. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession numbers: 1997/067, 2003/089

These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by Representative Todd Hunter on December 31, 1996, and by Representative Fred Bosse on December 17, 2002.

Processing Information

Lisa M. Hendricks, April 1997

Nancy Enneking, March 2003

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Detailed Description of the Records

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