1-1 By: Hightower (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 2206
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1993;
1-3 May 12, 1993, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
1-4 Justice; May 25, 1993, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 25, 1993,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-8 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-9 Whitmire x
1-10 Brown x
1-11 Nelson x
1-12 Sibley x
1-13 Sims x
1-14 Turner x
1-15 West x
1-16 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2206 By: Whitmire
1-17 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-18 AN ACT
1-19 relating to public information under the open records law.
1-20 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-21 SECTION 1. Section 3(a), Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd
1-22 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's
1-23 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-24 (a) All information collected, assembled, or maintained by
1-25 or for governmental bodies, except in those situations where the
1-26 governmental body does not have either a right of access to or
1-27 ownership of the information, pursuant to law or ordinance or in
1-28 connection with the transaction of official business is public
1-29 information and available to the public during normal business
1-30 hours of any governmental body, with the following exceptions only:
1-31 (1) information deemed confidential by law, either
1-32 Constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision;
1-33 (2) information in personnel files, the disclosure of
1-34 which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
1-35 privacy, and transcripts from institutions of higher education
1-36 maintained in the personnel files of professional public school
1-37 employees; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be
1-38 construed to exempt from disclosure the degree obtained and the
1-39 curriculum on such transcripts of professional public school
1-40 employees, and further provided that all information in personnel
1-41 files of an individual employee within a governmental body is to be
1-42 made available to that individual employee or his designated
1-43 representative as is public information under this Act;
1-44 (3) information relating to litigation of a criminal
1-45 or civil nature and settlement negotiations, to which the state or
1-46 political subdivision is, or may be, a party, or to which an
1-47 officer or employee of the state or political subdivision, as a
1-48 consequence of his office or employment, is or may be a party, that
1-49 the attorney general or the respective attorneys of the various
1-50 political subdivisions has determined should be withheld from
1-51 public inspection;
1-52 (4) information which, if released, would give
1-53 advantage to competitors or bidders;
1-54 (5) information pertaining to the location of real or
1-55 personal property for public purposes prior to public announcement
1-56 of the project, and information pertaining to appraisals or
1-57 purchase price of real or personal property for public purposes
1-58 prior to the formal award of contracts therefor;
1-59 (6) drafts and working papers involved in the
1-60 preparation of proposed legislation;
1-61 (7) matters in which the duty of the Attorney General
1-62 of Texas or an attorney of a political subdivision, to his client,
1-63 pursuant to the Rules and Canons of Ethics of the State Bar of
1-64 Texas are prohibited from disclosure, or which by order of a court
1-65 are prohibited from disclosure;
1-66 (8) records of law enforcement agencies and
1-67 prosecutors that deal with the detection, investigation, and
1-68 prosecution of crime and the internal records and notations of such
2-1 law enforcement agencies and prosecutors which are maintained for
2-2 internal use in matters relating to law enforcement and
2-3 prosecution;
2-4 (9) private correspondence and communications of an
2-5 elected office holder relating to matters the disclosure of which
2-6 would constitute an invasion of privacy;
2-7 (10) trade secrets and commercial or financial
2-8 information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential
2-9 by statute or judicial decision;
2-10 (11) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or
2-11 letters which would not be available by law to a party in
2-12 litigation with the agency;
2-13 (12) information contained in or related to
2-14 examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf
2-15 of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or
2-16 supervision of financial institutions, and/or securities, as that
2-17 term is defined in the Texas Securities Act;
2-18 (13) geological and geophysical information and data
2-19 including maps concerning wells, except information filed in
2-20 connection with an application or proceeding before any agency or
2-21 an electric log confidential under Subchapter M, Chapter 91,
2-22 Natural Resources Code;
2-23 (14) student records at educational institutions
2-24 funded wholly, or in part, by state revenue; but such records shall
2-25 be made available upon request of educational institution
2-26 personnel, the student involved, that student's parent, legal
2-27 guardian, or spouse or a person conducting a child abuse
2-28 investigation required by Section 34.05, Family Code;
2-29 (15) birth and death records maintained by the Bureau
2-30 of Vital Statistics of the Texas Department of Health, except that:
2-31 (A) a birth record is public information and
2-32 available to the public on and after the 50th anniversary of the
2-33 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
2-34 Statistics or local registration official; and
2-35 (B) a death record is public information and
2-36 available to the public on and after the 25th anniversary of the
2-37 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
2-38 Statistics or local registration official;
2-39 (16) the audit working papers of the State Auditor;
2-40 (17) information relating to:
2-41 (A) the home addresses or home telephone
2-42 numbers of each official or employee or each former official or
2-43 employee of a governmental body except as otherwise provided by
2-44 Section 3A of this Act, or of peace officers as defined by Article
2-45 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, <as amended,> or by Section
2-46 51.212, <Texas> Education Code; or
2-47 (B) the home addresses, home telephone numbers,
2-48 or social security numbers of employees of the Texas Department of
2-49 Criminal Justice, or the home or employment addresses or home or
2-50 employment telephone numbers or the names or social security
2-51 numbers of the <their> family members of employees of the Texas
2-52 Department of Criminal Justice;
2-53 (18) information contained on or derived from
2-54 triplicate prescription forms filed with the Department of Public
2-55 Safety pursuant to Section 481.075, Health and Safety Code;
2-56 (19) photographs that depict a peace officer as
2-57 defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a security
2-58 officer commissioned under Section 51.212, Education Code, the
2-59 release of which would endanger the life or physical safety of the
2-60 officer unless:
2-61 (A) the officer is under indictment or charged
2-62 with an offense by information; or
2-63 (B) the officer is a party in a fire or police
2-64 civil service hearing or a case in arbitration; or
2-65 (C) the photograph is introduced as evidence in
2-66 a judicial proceeding;
2-67 (20) rare books and original manuscripts which were
2-68 not created or maintained in the conduct of official business of a
2-69 governmental body and which are held by any private or public
2-70 archival and manuscript repository for the purposes of historical
3-1 research;
3-2 (21) oral history interviews, personal papers,
3-3 unpublished letters, and organizational records of nongovernmental
3-4 entities, which were not created or maintained in the conduct of
3-5 official business of a governmental body and which are held by any
3-6 private or public archival and manuscript repository for the
3-7 purposes of historical research, to the extent that the archival
3-8 and manuscript repository and the donor of the interviews, papers,
3-9 letters, and records may agree to limit disclosure of the item;
3-10 (22) curriculum objectives and test items developed by
3-11 educational institutions that are funded wholly or in part by state
3-12 revenue and test items developed by licensing agencies or
3-13 governmental bodies; and
3-14 (23) the names of applicants for the position of chief
3-15 executive officer of institutions of higher education, except that
3-16 the governing body of the institution of higher education must give
3-17 public notice of the name or names of the finalists being
3-18 considered for the position at least 21 days prior to the meeting
3-19 at which final action or vote is to be taken on the employment of
3-20 the individual.
3-21 SECTION 2. Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd Legislature,
3-22 Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-23 Statutes), is amended by adding Section 3C to read as follows:
3-24 Sec. 3C. LIMITATION OF ACCESS BY OFFENDERS TO PERSONAL
3-25 INFORMATION. (a) Notwithstanding Section 3(a) of this Act, an
3-26 officer for public records or the officer's agent may not provide
3-27 to an offender any access to or a copy of the following information
3-28 about an individual contained in a public record:
3-29 (1) address of place of employment;
3-30 (2) age;
3-31 (3) marital status;
3-32 (4) spouse's name; and
3-33 (5) children's names and ages.
3-34 (b) In this section, "offender" means a defendant in a
3-35 criminal prosecution during the period in which the defendant:
3-36 (1) is confined by order of a court in any prison or
3-37 jail; or
3-38 (2) is under the supervision of a community
3-39 supervision and corrections department or the pardons and paroles
3-40 division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
3-41 SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 497, Government Code, is
3-42 amended by adding Section 497.096 to read as follows:
3-43 Sec. 497.096. LIMITATION OF ACCESS BY INMATES TO PERSONAL
3-44 INFORMATION. An entity using inmate labor under this chapter shall
3-45 prevent access by an inmate at work to the following information
3-46 about any individual:
3-47 (1) home telephone number;
3-48 (2) home address;
3-49 (3) address of place of employment;
3-50 (4) age;
3-51 (5) marital status;
3-52 (6) spouse's name;
3-53 (7) children's names and ages; and
3-54 (8) social security number.
3-55 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-56 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-57 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-58 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-59 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-60 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-61 * * * * *
3-62 Austin,
3-63 Texas
3-64 May 25, 1993
3-65 Hon. Bob Bullock
3-66 President of the Senate
3-67 Sir:
3-68 We, your Committee on Criminal Justice to which was referred H.B.
3-69 No. 2206, have had the same under consideration, and I am
3-70 instructed to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation
4-1 that it do not pass, but that the Committee Substitute adopted in
4-2 lieu thereof do pass and be printed.
4-3 Whitmire,
4-4 Chairman
4-5 * * * * *
4-6 WITNESSES
4-7 No witnesses appeared on H.B. No. 2206.