84R6002 BEF-F
By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 1087
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the definition of, custody of, and access to public
information; providing a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 552.002(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) In this chapter, "public information" means:
(1) a state record;
(2) a local government record; or
(3) information that is written, produced, collected,
assembled, or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection
with the transaction of official business:
(A) [(1)] by a governmental body;
(B) [(2)] for a governmental body and the
governmental body:
(i) [(A)] owns the information;
(ii) [(B)] has a right of access to the
information; or
(iii) [(C)] spends or contributes public
money for the purpose of writing, producing, collecting,
assembling, or maintaining the information; or
(C) [(3)] by an individual officer or employee of
a governmental body [in the officer's or employee's official
capacity and the information pertains to official business of the
governmental body].
SECTION 2. Section 552.003, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (1-a), (1-b), and
(7) to read as follows:
(1) "Custodian" means a public officer or employee
who:
(A) by law, ordinance, or administrative policy
is in charge of an office that creates or receives a state record or
local government record; or
(B) in the transaction of official business,
creates or receives public information that the public officer or
employee has not provided to the records management officer or the
officer for public information of the governmental body.
(1-a) "Governmental body":
(A) means:
(i) a board, commission, department,
committee, institution, agency, or office that is within or is
created by the executive or legislative branch of state government
and that is directed by one or more elected or appointed members;
(ii) a county commissioners court in the
state;
(iii) a municipal governing body in the
state;
(iv) a deliberative body that has
rulemaking or quasi-judicial power and that is classified as a
department, agency, or political subdivision of a county or
municipality;
(v) a school district board of trustees;
(vi) a county board of school trustees;
(vii) a county board of education;
(viii) the governing board of a special
district;
(ix) the governing body of a nonprofit
corporation organized under Chapter 67, Water Code, that provides a
water supply or wastewater service, or both, and is exempt from ad
valorem taxation under Section 11.30, Tax Code;
(x) a local workforce development board
created under Section 2308.253;
(xi) a nonprofit corporation that is
eligible to receive funds under the federal community services
block grant program and that is authorized by this state to serve a
geographic area of the state; and
(xii) the part, section, or portion of an
organization, corporation, commission, committee, institution, or
agency that spends or that is supported in whole or in part by
public funds; and
(B) does not include the judiciary.
(1-b) "Local government record" has the meaning
assigned by Section 441.151.
(7) "State record" has the meaning assigned by Section
441.031.
SECTION 3. Section 552.203, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 552.203. GENERAL DUTIES OF OFFICER FOR PUBLIC
INFORMATION. Each officer for public information, subject to
penalties provided in this chapter, shall:
(1) make public information available for public
inspection and copying;
(2) carefully protect public information from
deterioration, alteration, mutilation, loss, or unlawful removal;
[and]
(3) repair, renovate, or rebind public information as
necessary to maintain it properly; and
(4) obtain information from a custodian who has access
to public information being requested from the governmental body.
SECTION 4. Subchapter E, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 552.233 to read as follows:
Sec. 552.233. OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC INFORMATION. (a) A
current or former officer or employee of a governmental body does
not have, by virtue of the officer's or employee's position or
former position, a personal or property right to public information
the officer or employee created or received in the performance of
the officer's or employee's duties.
(b) A current or former officer or employee with possession,
custody, or control of public information shall surrender or return
that public information to the governmental body on request or
demand by the custodian or officer for public information of the
governmental body.
(c) A requestor, custodian, or officer for public
information may sue in district court for an injunction or mandamus
to compel a current or former officer or employee of a governmental
body with possession, custody, or control of public information to
surrender or return the public information as required by
Subsection (b).
(d) A governmental body, custodian, or officer for public
information shall obtain possession, custody, or control of public
information from a current or former officer or employee to the
extent necessary to comply with the governmental body's obligations
under this chapter to produce public information for inspection or
copying. A governmental body, custodian, or officer for public
information who fails to comply with this subsection may be
included in a suit under Subsection (c).
SECTION 5. Section 552.321(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A requestor or the attorney general may file suit for a
writ of mandamus compelling a governmental body or its officer for
public information to obtain and [to] make information available
for public inspection if the governmental body or its officer for
public information fails [refuses] to request an attorney general's
decision as provided by Subchapter G, fails to promptly [or refuses
to] supply public information, or fails to promptly supply
information that the attorney general has determined is public
information that is not excepted from disclosure under Subchapter
C.
SECTION 6. The heading to Section 552.353, Government Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 552.353. FAILURE OR REFUSAL OF OFFICER FOR PUBLIC
INFORMATION OR CUSTODIAN TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO OR COPYING OF PUBLIC
INFORMATION.
SECTION 7. Sections 552.353(a) and (b), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) An officer for public information, [or] the officer's
agent, or the custodian of the records at issue commits an offense
if, with criminal negligence, the officer, [or] the officer's
agent, or the custodian fails or refuses to give access to, or to
permit or provide copying of, public information to a requestor as
provided by this chapter.
(b) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
Subsection (a) that the officer for public information or the
custodian reasonably believed that public access to the requested
information was not required and that:
(1) the officer or custodian acted in reasonable
reliance on a court order or a written interpretation of this
chapter contained in an opinion of a court of record or of the
attorney general issued under Subchapter G;
(2) the officer or custodian requested a decision from
the attorney general in accordance with Subchapter G, and the
decision is pending; or
(3) not later than the 10th calendar day after the date
of receipt of a decision by the attorney general that the
information is public, the officer, the custodian, or the
governmental body for whom the defendant is the officer for public
information filed a petition for a declaratory judgment against the
attorney general in a Travis County district court seeking relief
from compliance with the decision of the attorney general, as
provided by Section 552.324, and the cause is pending.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.