Sec. 614.017.  EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION.  (a)  An agency shall:
(1)  accept information relating to a special needs offender or a juvenile with a mental impairment that is sent to the agency to serve the purposes of continuity of care and services regardless of whether other state law makes that information confidential; and
(2)  disclose information relating to a special needs offender or a juvenile with a mental impairment, including information about the offender's or juvenile's identity, needs, treatment, social, criminal, and vocational history, supervision status and compliance with conditions of supervision, and medical and mental health history, if the disclosure serves the purposes of continuity of care and services.
(b)  Information obtained under this section may not be used as evidence in any juvenile or criminal proceeding, unless obtained and introduced by other lawful evidentiary means.
(c)  In this section:
(1)  "Agency" includes any of the following entities and individuals, a person with an agency relationship with one of the following entities or individuals, and a person who contracts with one or more of the following entities or individuals:
(A)  the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee;
(B)  the Board of Pardons and Paroles;
(C)  the Department of State Health Services;
(D)  the Texas Juvenile Justice Department;
(E)   the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services;
(F)  the Texas Education Agency;
(G)  the Commission on Jail Standards;
(H)  the Department of Aging and Disability Services;
(I)  the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired;
(J)  community supervision and corrections departments and local juvenile probation departments;
(K)  personal bond pretrial release offices established under Article 17.42, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(L)  local jails regulated by the Commission on Jail Standards;
(M)  a municipal or county health department;
(N)  a hospital district;
(O)  a judge of this state with jurisdiction over juvenile or criminal cases;
(P)  an attorney who is appointed or retained to represent a special needs offender or a juvenile with a mental impairment;
(Q)  the Health and Human Services Commission;
(R)  the Department of Information Resources;
(S)  the bureau of identification and records of the Department of Public Safety, for the sole purpose of providing real-time, contemporaneous identification of individuals in the Department of State Health Services client data base; and
(T)  the Department of Family and Protective Services.
(2)  "Special needs offender" includes an individual for whom criminal charges are pending or who after conviction or adjudication is in custody or under any form of criminal justice supervision.
(3)  "Juvenile with a mental impairment" means a juvenile with a mental impairment in the juvenile justice system.
(d)  An agency shall manage confidential information accepted or disclosed under this section prudently so as to maintain, to the extent possible, the confidentiality of that information.
(e)  A person commits an offense if the person releases or discloses confidential information obtained under this section for purposes other than continuity of care and services, except as authorized by other law or by the consent of the person to whom the information relates.  An offense under this subsection is a Class B misdemeanor.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 321, Sec. 1.107, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.  Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 312, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1067, Sec. 1, eff. June 18, 1999;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1188, Sec. 3.06, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 247, Sec. 1, eff. May 22, 2001;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 6, Sec. 1, 2, 6, eff. April 10, 2003; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 856, Sec. 18, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by: 
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 706 (S.B. 396), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2005.
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1306 (S.B. 839), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2007.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1187 (H.B. 3689), Sec. 4.007, eff. June 19, 2009.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1187 (H.B. 3689), Sec. 4.008, eff. June 19, 2009.
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 85 (S.B. 653), Sec. 2.003, eff. September 1, 2011.