73R2259 JRD-D
By Schechter H.B. No. 934
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to making confidential a record that would identify a
1-3 person who uses library services or materials.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd
1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's
1-7 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending Subsection (a) and
1-8 adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
1-9 (a) All information collected, assembled, or maintained by
1-10 or for governmental bodies, except in those situations where the
1-11 governmental body does not have either a right of access to or
1-12 ownership of the information, pursuant to law or ordinance or in
1-13 connection with the transaction of official business is public
1-14 information and available to the public during normal business
1-15 hours of any governmental body, with the following exceptions only:
1-16 (1) information deemed confidential by law, either
1-17 Constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision;
1-18 (2) information in personnel files, the disclosure of
1-19 which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
1-20 privacy, and transcripts from institutions of higher education
1-21 maintained in the personnel files of professional public school
1-22 employees; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be
1-23 construed to exempt from disclosure the degree obtained and the
1-24 curriculum on such transcripts of professional public school
2-1 employees, and further provided that all information in personnel
2-2 files of an individual employee within a governmental body is to be
2-3 made available to that individual employee or his designated
2-4 representative as is public information under this Act;
2-5 (3) information relating to litigation of a criminal
2-6 or civil nature and settlement negotiations, to which the state or
2-7 political subdivision is, or may be, a party, or to which an
2-8 officer or employee of the state or political subdivision, as a
2-9 consequence of his office or employment, is or may be a party, that
2-10 the attorney general or the respective attorneys of the various
2-11 political subdivisions has determined should be withheld from
2-12 public inspection;
2-13 (4) information which, if released, would give
2-14 advantage to competitors or bidders;
2-15 (5) information pertaining to the location of real or
2-16 personal property for public purposes prior to public announcement
2-17 of the project, and information pertaining to appraisals or
2-18 purchase price of real or personal property for public purposes
2-19 prior to the formal award of contracts therefor;
2-20 (6) drafts and working papers involved in the
2-21 preparation of proposed legislation;
2-22 (7) matters in which the duty of the Attorney General
2-23 of Texas or an attorney of a political subdivision, to his client,
2-24 pursuant to the Rules and Canons of Ethics of the State Bar of
2-25 Texas are prohibited from disclosure, or which by order of a court
2-26 are prohibited from disclosure;
2-27 (8) records of law enforcement agencies and
3-1 prosecutors that deal with the detection, investigation, and
3-2 prosecution of crime and the internal records and notations of such
3-3 law enforcement agencies and prosecutors which are maintained for
3-4 internal use in matters relating to law enforcement and
3-5 prosecution;
3-6 (9) private correspondence and communications of an
3-7 elected office holder relating to matters the disclosure of which
3-8 would constitute an invasion of privacy;
3-9 (10) trade secrets and commercial or financial
3-10 information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential
3-11 by statute or judicial decision;
3-12 (11) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or
3-13 letters which would not be available by law to a party in
3-14 litigation with the agency;
3-15 (12) information contained in or related to
3-16 examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf
3-17 of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or
3-18 supervision of financial institutions, and/or securities, as that
3-19 term is defined in the Texas Securities Act;
3-20 (13) geological and geophysical information and data
3-21 including maps concerning wells, except information filed in
3-22 connection with an application or proceeding before any agency or
3-23 an electric log confidential under Subchapter M, Chapter 91,
3-24 Natural Resources Code;
3-25 (14) student records at educational institutions
3-26 funded wholly, or in part, by state revenue; but such records shall
3-27 be made available upon request of educational institution
4-1 personnel, the student involved, that student's parent, legal
4-2 guardian, or spouse or a person conducting a child abuse
4-3 investigation required by Section 34.05, Family Code;
4-4 (15) birth and death records maintained by the Bureau
4-5 of Vital Statistics of the Texas Department of Health, except that:
4-6 (A) a birth record is public information and
4-7 available to the public on and after the 50th anniversary of the
4-8 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
4-9 Statistics or local registration official; and
4-10 (B) a death record is public information and
4-11 available to the public on and after the 25th anniversary of the
4-12 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
4-13 Statistics or local registration official;
4-14 (16) the audit working papers of the State Auditor;
4-15 (17) information relating to:
4-16 (A) the home addresses or home telephone numbers
4-17 of each official or employee or each former official or employee of
4-18 a governmental body except as otherwise provided by Section 3A of
4-19 this Act, or of peace officers as defined by Article 2.12, Code of
4-20 Criminal Procedure, 1965, as amended, or by Section 51.212, Texas
4-21 Education Code; or
4-22 (B) the home addresses, home telephone numbers,
4-23 or social security numbers of employees of the Texas Department of
4-24 Criminal Justice, or the home or employment addresses or telephone
4-25 numbers or the names or social security numbers of their family
4-26 members;
4-27 (18) information contained on or derived from
5-1 triplicate prescription forms filed with the Department of Public
5-2 Safety pursuant to Section 481.075, Health and Safety Code;
5-3 (19) photographs that depict a peace officer as
5-4 defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a security
5-5 officer commissioned under Section 51.212, Education Code, the
5-6 release of which would endanger the life or physical safety of the
5-7 officer unless:
5-8 (A) the officer is under indictment or charged
5-9 with an offense by information; or
5-10 (B) the officer is a party in a fire or police
5-11 civil service hearing or a case in arbitration; or
5-12 (C) the photograph is introduced as evidence in
5-13 a judicial proceeding;
5-14 (20) rare books and original manuscripts which were
5-15 not created or maintained in the conduct of official business of a
5-16 governmental body and which are held by any private or public
5-17 archival and manuscript repository for the purposes of historical
5-18 research;
5-19 (21) oral history interviews, personal papers,
5-20 unpublished letters, and organizational records of nongovernmental
5-21 entities, which were not created or maintained in the conduct of
5-22 official business of a governmental body and which are held by any
5-23 private or public archival and manuscript repository for the
5-24 purposes of historical research, to the extent that the archival
5-25 and manuscript repository and the donor of the interviews, papers,
5-26 letters, and records may agree to limit disclosure of the item;
5-27 (22) curriculum objectives and test items developed by
6-1 educational institutions that are funded wholly or in part by state
6-2 revenue and test items developed by licensing agencies or
6-3 governmental bodies; <and>
6-4 (23) the names of applicants for the position of chief
6-5 executive officer of institutions of higher education, except that
6-6 the governing body of the institution of higher education must give
6-7 public notice of the name or names of the finalists being
6-8 considered for the position at least 21 days prior to the meeting
6-9 at which final action or vote is to be taken on the employment of
6-10 the individual; and
6-11 (24) records of a library or library system, supported
6-12 in whole or in part by public funds, that identify or serve to
6-13 identify a person who requested, obtained, or used a library
6-14 material or service, unless the records are disclosed:
6-15 (A) because the library or library system
6-16 determines that disclosure is reasonably necessary for the
6-17 operation of the library or library system, and the records are not
6-18 confidential under other state or federal law;
6-19 (B) under Section 3B of this Act; or
6-20 (C) to a law enforcement agency or a prosecutor
6-21 under a court order or subpoena obtained after a showing to a
6-22 district court that:
6-23 (i) disclosure of the records is necessary
6-24 to protect the public safety; or
6-25 (ii) the records are evidence of an
6-26 offense or constitute evidence that a particular person committed
6-27 an offense.
7-1 (g) Records of a library or library system that are excepted
7-2 from required disclosure under Subsection (a)(24) of this section
7-3 are confidential.
7-4 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
7-5 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
7-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.