By: Capriglione H.B. No. 5027
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the public information law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 552.003(1), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "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;
(xii) a confinement facility operated under
a contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice;
(xiii) a civil commitment housing facility
owned, leased, or operated by a vendor under contract with the state
as provided by Chapter 841, Health and Safety Code;
(xiv) an entity that receives public funds
in the current or preceding state fiscal year to manage the daily
operations or restoration of the Alamo, or an entity that oversees
such an entity; and
(xv) [the part, section, or portion of] an
organization, corporation, commission, committee, institution, or
agency:
(a) for which the source of at least
51 percent of its revenue during the preceding year was public
funds; or
(b) that engages primarily in
activities under an agreement with or a grant from another
governmental body [that spends or that is supported in whole or in
part by public funds]; and
(B) does not include:
(i) the judiciary; or
(ii) an economic development entity whose
mission or purpose is to develop and promote the economic growth of
a state agency or political subdivision with which the entity
contracts if:
(a) the entity does not receive $1
million or more in public funds from a single state agency or
political subdivision in the current or preceding state fiscal
year; or
(b) the entity:
(1) either:
(A) does not have the
authority to make decisions or recommendations on behalf of a state
agency or political subdivision regarding tax abatements or tax
incentives; or
(B) does not require an
officer of the state agency or political subdivision to hold office
as a member of the board of directors of the entity;
(2) does not use staff or office
space of the state agency or political subdivision for no or nominal
consideration, unless the space is available to the public;
(3) to a reasonable degree,
tracks the entity's receipt and expenditure of public funds
separately from the entity's receipt and expenditure of private
funds; and
(4) provides at least quarterly
public reports to the state agency or political subdivision
regarding work performed on behalf of the state agency or political
subdivision.
SECTION 2. Section 552.106, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) The exception to disclosure provided by this section
does not apply to governmental bodies described by Sections
552.003(1)(A)(ii)-(xiv).
SECTION 3. Section 552.107, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 552.107. EXCEPTION: CERTAIN LEGAL MATTERS. (a)
Information is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021
if:
(1) it is information that the attorney general [or an
attorney of a political subdivision] is prohibited from disclosing
because of a duty to the client under the Texas Rules of Evidence or
the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct; [or]
(2) it is information that pertains to active
litigation against a governmental body; or
(3) a court by order has prohibited disclosure of the
information.
(b) The exception to disclosure provided by this section
does not apply to:
(1) a communication with an attorney or an attorney's
representative, other than information contained in the
communication to which the exception otherwise applies; or
(2) a report, audit, or other material created in the
absence of active litigation.
(c) When rendering a decision under Subchapter G as to
whether requested information is within the scope of the exception
to disclosure provided by this section, the attorney general shall
restrict the scope of the attorney-client privilege by construing
the exception narrowly and in favor of the public's interest in
maximum government transparency.
SECTION 4. Sections 552.305(a) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) In a case in which information is requested under this
chapter and a person's privacy or property interests may be
involved, including a case under Section 552.101, 552.110,
552.1101, 552.114, [552.131,] or 552.143, a governmental body may
decline to release the information for the purpose of requesting an
attorney general decision.
(d) If release of a person's proprietary information may be
subject to exception under Section 552.101, 552.110, 552.1101,
552.113, [552.131,] or 552.143, the governmental body that requests
an attorney general decision under Section 552.301 shall make a
good faith attempt to notify that person of the request for the
attorney general decision. Notice under this subsection must:
(1) be in writing and sent within a reasonable time not
later than the 10th business day after the date the governmental
body receives the request for the information; and
(2) include:
(A) a copy of the written request for the
information, if any, received by the governmental body; and
(B) a statement, in the form prescribed by the
attorney general, that the person is entitled to submit in writing
to the attorney general within a reasonable time not later than the
10th business day after the date the person receives the notice:
(i) each reason the person has as to why the
information should be withheld; and
(ii) a letter, memorandum, or brief in
support of that reason.
SECTION 5. Section 552.133(a-1), Government Code, is
transferred to Section 551.086, Government Code, and redesignated
as Section 551.086(a-1), Government Code, to read as follows:
(a-1) For purposes of this section, "competitive matter"
means a utility-related matter, including for an entity described
by Subdivision (2) a cable, Internet, or broadband service matter,
that is related to the public power utility's competitive activity,
including commercial information, and would, if disclosed, give
advantage to competitors or prospective competitors. The term:
(1) means a matter that is reasonably related to the
following categories of information:
(A) generation unit specific and portfolio fixed
and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital
improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit
operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
(B) bidding and pricing information for
purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability
Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and
strategies;
(C) effective fuel and purchased power
agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
(D) risk management information, contracts, and
strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for
system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission
and distribution system improvements inside the service area for
which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail
provider; and
(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
information, electric power pricing information, system load
characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and
strategies;
(2) means a matter reasonably related to information
involving the provision of cable, Internet, or broadband services
by a municipally owned utility that provided electricity services
and cable, Internet, or broadband services on or before January 1,
2003, including:
(A) a capital improvement plan;
(B) an expense related to the installation of a
facility to provide those services;
(C) bidding and pricing information for
installation of the facility;
(D) risk management information, contracts, and
strategies;
(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for:
(i) system improvements, additions, or
sales; or
(ii) establishing pricing for providing
those services; and
(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
information; and
(3) does not include the following categories of
information:
(A) information relating to the provision of
distribution access service, including the terms and conditions of
the service and the rates charged for the service but not including
information concerning utility-related services or products that
are competitive;
(B) information relating to the provision of
transmission service that is required to be filed with the Public
Utility Commission of Texas, subject to any confidentiality
provided for under the rules of the commission;
(C) information for the distribution system
pertaining to reliability and continuity of service, to the extent
not security-sensitive, that relates to emergency management,
identification of critical loads such as hospitals and police,
records of interruption, and distribution feeder standards;
(D) any substantive rule or tariff of general
applicability regarding rates, service offerings, service
regulation, customer protections, or customer service adopted by
the public power utility as authorized by law;
(E) aggregate information reflecting receipts or
expenditures of funds of the public power utility, of the type that
would be included in audited financial statements;
(F) information relating to equal employment
opportunities for minority groups, as filed with local, state, or
federal agencies;
(G) information relating to the public power
utility's performance in contracting with minority business
entities;
(H) information relating to nuclear
decommissioning trust agreements, of the type required to be
included in audited financial statements;
(I) information relating to the amount and timing
of any transfer to an owning city's general fund;
(J) information relating to environmental
compliance as required to be filed with any local, state, or
national environmental authority, subject to any confidentiality
provided under the rules of those authorities;
(K) names of public officers of the public power
utility and the voting records of those officers for all matters
other than those within the scope of a competitive resolution
provided for by this section;
(L) a description of the public power utility's
central and field organization, including the established places at
which the public may obtain information, submit information and
requests, or obtain decisions and the identification of employees
from whom the public may obtain information, submit information or
requests, or obtain decisions;
(M) information identifying the general course
and method by which the public power utility's functions are
channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of
all formal and informal policies and procedures;
(N) salaries and total compensation of all
employees of a public power utility;
(O) information publicly released by the
Electric Reliability Council of Texas in accordance with a law,
rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market
participants;
(P) information related to a chilled water
program, as defined by Section 11.003, Utilities Code; or
(Q) information included in the separate books
and records required to be kept by an entity described by
Subdivision (2) as required by Section 552.915, Local Government
Code.
SECTION 6. Section 551.086(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) This chapter does not require a public power utility
governing body to conduct an open meeting to deliberate, vote, or
take final action on any competitive matter[, as that term is
defined by Section 552.133]. This section does not limit the right
of a public power utility governing body to hold a closed session
under any other exception provided for in this chapter.
SECTION 7. Section 306.003, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) Records and communications described by Subsection (a)
are not subject to Chapter 552.
SECTION 8. SECTION 306.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) Records and communications described by Subsection (a)
are not subject to Chapter 552.
SECTION 9. Section 306.008, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) Records and communications described by Subsection (a)
or (b) are not subject to Chapter 552.
SECTION 10. The following provisions of the Government Code
are repealed:
(1) the heading to Section 552.133;
(2) Sections 552.133(a), (b), (b-1), and (c); and
(3) Sections 552.111, 552.123, 552.126, and 552.154.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.