81R15157 JD-F
By: Wentworth S.B. No. 2140
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requests to inspect or be provided with copies of
information under the public information law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 552.003(2), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(2) "Manipulation" means the process of modifying,
reordering, or decoding of information with human intervention.
The term includes a search of one or more e-mail or text message
accounts and the retrieval and transfer of e-mails or text messages
that are responsive to a request for public information into a paper
or other format that can be provided to or inspected by the
requestor.
SECTION 2. Section 552.2615(g), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(g) The time deadlines imposed by this section toll [do not
affect] the application of a time deadline imposed on a
governmental body under Subchapter G, beginning on the date the
itemized statement or updated itemized statement is considered to
have been sent by the governmental body under Subsection (e) and
ending on the date the governmental body receives a response from
the requestor.
SECTION 3. Section 552.263(e), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) For purposes of Subchapters F and G, if the officer for
public information of a governmental body or the officer's agent
requires a deposit or bond under this section, a request for a copy
of public information is considered to have been received by a
governmental body on, as applicable, the date the governmental body
receives the deposit or bond for payment of anticipated costs or
unpaid amounts or the date the governmental body receives from the
requestor in accordance with Section 552.2615 a modified, amended,
or narrowed request [if the governmental body's officer for public
information or the officer's agent requires a deposit or bond in
accordance with this section].
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a request to inspect or copy public information received by a
governmental body on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.