AUSTIN \u2014 State contractors would be banned from spying on or doing surveillance of lawmakers, whistleblowers, and state employees under legislation that is on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s desk. Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the proposal by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen. House Bill 5061 cleared its final legislative hurdle when it flew through the Texas Senate with no objections on Friday, just a week after the House approved it without opposition.<\/p>\n
Abbott has the authority to veto the legislation for 10 days after it lands on his desk, although his office has given no sign that he will. He doesn\u2019t have to sign it in order for it to become law on September 1. Leach filed the bill two weeks before revelations that Superior HealthPlan hired a background investigation firm to collect files on lawmakers while the company was embroiled in a lawsuit several years ago. The Austin-based company is a national for-profit managed care organization that has delivered Medicaid insurance to low-income Texans for decades.<\/p>\n
The files included political backgrounds, professional information, divorce records, and online satellite photos of cars and homes of Texas lawmakers \u2014 including Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, then a state senator, according to court documents that have been public for several years. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly troubling and, frankly, shocking,\u201d Leach said during the House vote.<\/p>\n
At a March 26 legislative hearing, former CEO Mark Sanders acknowledged ordering a private background investigations firm to collect information on patients, providers, a journalist, and several Texas lawmakers from 2017 to 2019. He was fired the next day. Company officials have said the firm it hired never performed surveillance or took photographs of its subjects and that it did none of the things that are covered under the bill.<\/p>\n
The revelations triggered an investigation by the Texas attorney general\u2019s office in addition to the inquiry. In April, Capriglione, chairman of the House Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency, enlisted the state auditor\u2019s to help look into Superior. On Friday, Capriglione thanked the bill\u2019s sponsors for what he called an \u201cimportant piece of legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time we put an end to contractors using nefarious practices against the very people they are meant to serve, as I saw firsthand in our DOGE committee,\u201d he said. Lawmakers acknowledge companies regularly gather information on those who could impact their businesses, finances, or ability to deliver services.<\/p>\n
Superior health officials have defended the company\u2019s investigations as needlessly broad but legal, ethical, standard background research commonly used in the corporate and political world. They say the research practices ended in November 2019 \u2014 and were much less invasive than Capriglione and others described in what company officials called \u201cfalse allegations\u201d in an April 22 letter to the committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo legislator or government employee was followed or photographed. Not once. Not ever,\u201d read the letter, which was signed by the company\u2019s attorney, Christopher Koster. At the March hearing, Sanders acknowledged the company did \u201cwhat I would call general research, anything that\u2018s publicly available \u2026 but nothing beyond what\u2018s publicly available.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standard background research is allowed under House Bill 5061. Social media monitoring is excluded from acts considered illegal under the bill, as is \u201ccollecting information that is publicly available or … through a subscription service\u201d \u2014 the sort of research that officials from Centene, Superior\u2019s parent company, maintain was done in this case.<\/p>\n
The bill prohibits a state agency contractor or potential vendor from using a third party to engage in surveillance, intimidation, coercion, extortion, undue influence, or similar conduct against state lawmakers, employees of the Legislature and state agencies, or an individual who raises concerns about state agency operations or contracting.<\/p>\n
The bill prohibits the use of private or confidential information to manipulate or influence a state contracting decision or proceeding. It defines undue influence as \u201can improper use of power, position, or information to manipulate a decision-making process, including the use of private or confidential information for personal or organizational gain.\u201d<\/p>\n
A confidential hotline and online portal for complaint submissions would be created. The state auditor\u2019s office would have 90 days to determine whether a violation occurred and could refer a matter to the Texas Rangers if officials suspect a criminal offense was committed.<\/p>\n
First-time violators would be subject to immediate termination of state contracts and liable for a penalty of up to $500,000. Penalties could jump to $2 million in cases where the violation involved undue influence or the misuse of private or confidential information.<\/p>\n
Violators would be banned from seeking a state contract for 10 to 15 years. Additional violations would result in the immediate termination of contracts, penalties up to $2 million, and a permanent ban from business agreements with the state.<\/p>\n
In an April letter to Texas Health and Human Services, Capriglione demanded Superior face billion-dollar repercussions for its actions, which were first revealed to him and others several years ago after the investigatory files were included in court papers.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Superior is embroiled in a heated court battle to hang on to nearly $1 billion in Texas state contracts to administer the Medicaid STAR\/CHIP programs. Last year, Texas Health and Human Services announced a procurement worth up to $116 billion over the next 12 years that would shuffle the health plans of some 1.8 million low-income Texans.<\/p>\n
The new legislation aims to prevent state contractors from engaging in surveillance or intimidation of lawmakers, whistleblowers, and state employees. The bill provides for penalties and fines for violators and creates a confidential hotline for complaint submissions. With billions of dollars in contracts at stake, the legislation is a significant step towards ensuring transparency and accountability in state contracting.<\/p>\n
Q: What does the new legislation prohibit?<\/strong> A: The legislation prohibits state contractors from spying on or doing surveillance of lawmakers, whistleblowers, and state employees.<\/p>\n Q: What are the penalties for violating the legislation?<\/strong> A: First-time violators would be subject to immediate termination of state contracts and liable for a penalty of up to $500,000. Additional violations would result in the immediate termination of contracts, penalties up to $2 million, and a permanent ban from business agreements with the state.<\/p>\n Q: How will complaints be handled?<\/strong> A: A confidential hotline and online portal for complaint submissions would be created. The state auditor\u2019s office would have 90 days to determine whether a violation occurred and could refer a matter to the Texas Rangers if officials suspect a criminal offense was committed.<\/p>\n Q: What is the significance of the legislation?<\/strong> A: The legislation is a significant step towards ensuring transparency and accountability in state contracting, with billions of dollars in contracts at stake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Legislation to Ban State Contractors from Spying on Lawmakers and Whistleblowers AUSTIN \u2014 State contractors would be banned from spying on or doing surveillance of lawmakers, whistleblowers, and state employees under legislation that is on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s desk. Lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the proposal by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen. House Bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-wellness"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/Q6HEDJF5DBDDPP74SSOC6SXJPQ.jpg?auth=7d29f3933ae281e73f78bc70c21b5a73bbddd0b7eeb26fc6344f988eee424cd6&height=630&width=1200&smart=true&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6156,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions\/6156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}