All Courts

(a) Court Confidentiality Policy Required. A court, including an appellate, district, statutory county, business, statutory probate, constitutional county, justice, and municipal court, must adopt a policy governing court confidentiality. Page 5 (b) Policy Contents. The policy must: (1) define who the policy applies to; (2) define confidential information; (3) impose a duty of confidentiality on all court staff that continues after employment at the court ends; (4) address when, if ever, the disclosure of confidential information is authorized; (5) provide the language of relevant laws, including section 21.013 of the Texas Government Code and section 39.06 of the Texas Penal Code; (6) address negligent or accidental disclosure of confidential information; (7) warn of potential penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, including: (A) referral to relevant law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution; (B) termination of employment; (C) for attorneys, referral to the State Bar of Texas for discipline; (D) for law students, referral to the Texas Board of Law Examiners for consideration in determining eligibility to practice law in Texas; and (8) require all court staff to acknowledge receipt of the policy in writing. (c) Distribution and Training Required. The court must: (1) for all new court staff members, provide the policy and train on it before the new staff member begins any substantive work for the court; (2) provide the policy to all existing court staff at least once every other year.