1. (a) Documents filed in proceedings at SOAH are accessible to the public through SOAH's website unless the proceeding is designated as confidential by SOAH or the documents are designated as confidential pursuant to this rule. A party filing or offering documents that contain confidential information and personal identifiers shall comply with this rule to prevent inadvertent public disclosure of such documents.

   1. (1) For purposes of this chapter, confidential information includes:

      1. (A) information made confidential by law;
      2. (B) information otherwise protected from disclosure by law; and
      3. (C) documents filed in camera, solely for the purpose of obtaining a ruling on the discoverability or admissibility of such documents.
   2. (2) A "personal identifier" is information that identifies a specific individual. Personal identifiers include: Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, other similar government-issued personal identification numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers or other financial account numbers, dates of birth, full names of minors, full names of patients or clients in a health care setting, full names of persons who are victims of crimes, addresses and telephone numbers of commissioned peace officers, expunged criminal records, or records subject to a non-disclosure order issued by a court unless allowed by law.
2. (b) Redaction required. A person who files documents at SOAH in proceedings accessible to the public, including exhibits offered at hearing, shall redact from the documents all confidential information and personal identifiers that are unnecessary for resolution of the case. A party may not file an entire document as confidential and non-public except as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

3. (c) Confidential documents.

   1. (1) A party may designate an entire document or exhibit as confidential and non-public only if:

      1. (A) the entire document or exhibit contains confidential information or is a personal identifier;
      2. (B) redaction of the document or exhibit would remove confidential information or personal identifiers necessary to the resolution of the case; or
      3. (C) it would be unduly burdensome to redact confidential information or personal identifiers from the document or exhibit.
   2. (2) Filing confidential documents. A party filing confidential documents in a proceeding accessible to the public must file them by delivery in a sealed and labeled package, accompanied by an explanatory cover letter. The cover letter shall identify the docket number and style of the case and shall explain the nature of the sealed materials. The outside of the package shall identify the docket number, style of the case, and name of the submitting party and shall be marked "CONFIDENTIAL" in bold print at least one inch in size. Each page of the confidential document shall be marked "CONFIDENTIAL" in bold print, 12-point type.

4. (d) Challenging confidentiality designations. A party may file a motion to challenge the redaction or confidential filing of any information, or the judge can raise the issue. If a confidentiality designation is challenged, the designating party has the burden of showing that the document should remain confidential.

   1. (1) If the judge determines that a confidential filing under subsection (c) is appropriate, the judge may allow the filing to remain inaccessible to the public on SOAH's website, admit the information into the evidentiary record under seal, or employ appropriate protective measures.
   2. (2) If the judge determines that a confidential filing under subsection (c) is not appropriate, the offering party must redact the confidential information or the personal identifiers before resubmitting the document.
5. (e) Designation of a document as confidential in a SOAH proceeding is not determinative of whether that document would be subject to disclosure under Tex. Gov't Code Chapter 552 or other applicable law.
6. (f) Documents in non-public cases. Certain SOAH proceedings are designated confidential. Hearings in those cases are not open to the public, and filings in these cases are not accessible through SOAH's public website.

Source Note:The provisions of this §155.103 adopted to be effective January 1, 2017, 41 TexReg 8593.