Relating to the disclosure of certain harvest report information submitted to the Parks and Wildlife Department.
SB 1248 amends the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code to make certain harvest report information confidential. The bill covers reports submitted to the Parks and Wildlife Department about the recreational harvest of game animals, game birds, fur-bearing animals, nongame animals, alligators, fish, and other aquatic life, including the specific location where wildlife was harvested. It generally bars disclosure of that information and exempts it from the Texas Public Information Act, while still allowing disclosure in limited circumstances.
Under the bill, the department may release harvest report information to a federal or state law enforcement agency with a lawfully issued subpoena, to the person identified in the report or that person’s representative, to other governmental bodies for governmental purposes, or to contracted entities that sign nondisclosure agreements for research, analysis, or other approved activities. The department may also publish statistical compilations so long as they do not identify the reporter, the harvester, or the specific location of the harvest. The bill also provides immunity from civil liability for unintentional violations and applies to disclosures made on or after September 1, 2025, even if the report was submitted earlier.
The bill creates a new confidentiality provision in Chapter 11 of the Parks and Wildlife Code and overrides the application of Chapter 552, Government Code, to the covered harvest report information. It narrows public access to wildlife harvest data, especially location-specific information and identifying details, while preserving limited access for law enforcement, governmental use, and approved research or analysis. The measure affects the Parks and Wildlife Department, its agents, hunters, anglers, and others who submit or are identified in harvest reports, and it may also affect public records requests involving wildlife management data.
The bill appears to have been generally well received and moved with substantial legislative support. It passed the Senate unanimously and passed the House by a comfortable margin, though with 22 مخالف votes, indicating broad agreement on the need to protect sensitive harvest information. The absence of committee transcript discussion suggests no major public controversy is reflected in the available record, and the final votes indicate the bill was viewed as a targeted privacy and resource-protection measure.
The main point of contention is the restriction on public access to harvest report information, particularly the exemption from the Public Information Act and the prohibition on releasing specific location data. Supporters likely viewed the bill as protecting wildlife resources, landowner privacy, and sensitive location information from misuse, while opponents may have been concerned about reduced transparency and limits on access to data used by the public, researchers, or journalists. The 22 House no votes suggest some lawmakers were uneasy with the breadth of the confidentiality provisions, even though the bill preserved limited disclosure pathways.