USE OF REGULATORY SURVEY REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS.

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a survey report or other document prepared by the department that relates to regulation of a home and community support services agency is not admissible as evidence in a civil action to prove that the agency violated a standard prescribed under this chapter.

(b) Subsection (a) does not:

(1) bar the admission into evidence of department survey reports or other documents in an enforcement action in which the state or an agency or political subdivision of the state is a party, including:

(A) an action seeking injunctive relief under Section 142.013;

(B) an action seeking imposition of a civil penalty under Section 142.014;

(C) a contested case hearing involving imposition of an administrative penalty under Section 142.017; and

(D) a contested case hearing involving denial, suspension, or revocation of a license issued under this chapter;

(2) bar the admission into evidence of department survey reports or other documents that are offered:

(A) to establish warning or notice to a home and community support services agency of a relevant department determination; or

(B) under any rule or evidentiary predicate of the Texas Rules of Evidence;

(3) prohibit or limit the testimony of a department employee, in accordance with the Texas Rules of Evidence, as to observations, factual findings, conclusions, or determinations that a home and community support services agency violated a standard prescribed under this chapter if the observations, factual findings, conclusions, or determinations were made in the discharge of the employee's official duties for the department; or

(4) prohibit or limit the use of department survey reports or other documents in depositions or other forms of discovery conducted in connection with a civil action if use of the survey reports or other documents appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.