Sec. 142.0094. USE OF REGULATORY SURVEY REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a survey report or other document prepared by the department that relates to regulation of a home and community support services agency is not admissible as evidence in a civil action to prove that the agency violated a standard prescribed under this chapter.

(b) Subsection (a) does not:

(1) bar the admission into evidence of department survey reports or other documents in an enforcement action in which the state or an agency or political subdivision of the state is a party, including:

(A) an action seeking injunctive relief under Section 142.013;

(B) an action seeking imposition of a civil penalty under Section 142.014;

(C) a contested case hearing involving imposition of an administrative penalty under Section 142.017; and

(D) a contested case hearing involving denial, suspension, or revocation of a license issued under this chapter;

(2) bar the admission into evidence of department survey reports or other documents that are offered:

(A) to establish warning or notice to a home and community support services agency of a relevant department determination; or

(B) under any rule or evidentiary predicate of the Texas Rules of Evidence;

(3) prohibit or limit the testimony of a department employee, in accordance with the Texas Rules of Evidence, as to observations, factual findings, conclusions, or determinations that a home and community support services agency violated a standard prescribed under this chapter if the observations, factual findings, conclusions, or determinations were made in the discharge of the employee's official duties for the department; or

(4) prohibit or limit the use of department survey reports or other documents in depositions or other forms of discovery conducted in connection with a civil action if use of the survey reports or other documents appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 276, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.