Although the Governor called a special session extending the Texas Legislative session, the topics to be addressed are political ones and not the ones we have been tracking.  We can therefore wrap-up our watch of the three bills we were monitoring.

First, bring out your dead!

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HB 318/SB 118 social media passwords

A bill that would have prohibited employers from demanding social media passwords from its employees and applicants garnered much attention, was passed by the house, but then died.  Texas will not join about a dozen other states who have passed similar laws to provide what I think is a solution to a non-existent problem.  I seriously doubt that between now and 2015, employers will run amok demanding social media passwords — especially with the pro-employment attention Texas has been getting (shameless plug for my hometown).  The National Conference of State Legislatures has a good page on the efforts by various states.

HB 1989 service by social media

This bill also generated attention, but did not get very far.  It would have allowed judges to authorize service of a lawsuit via social media.   The existing rules allow judges to authorize substituted service when necessary which could include social media assuming certain due process protections are in place.  This bill would have given judges more comfort with the idea, but its death does not mean it can’t still be done.   This Outside Counsel article by Michael Lynch suggests service of process via social media may become more common without extra rules or laws.

The lone survivor

Only SB 94 was passed and will become law on September 1, 2013.  It allows for private civil lawsuits against websites that allow advertisements for what the law calls “compelled prostitution,” better known as sex trafficking. As explained in my initial post, there is a serious legal question of whether the Texas law would run afoul of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which generally shields website operators from liability for user generated content.  Hopefully, it is a purely academic discussion and this law is little used because of the lack of necessity.  If a website is sued, it will make for an interesting defense.

The Legislature now focuses on redistricting – expect some fireworks and perhaps another escape.

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