By: Armbrister S.B. No. 360
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to making confidential a record that would identify a
1-2 person who uses library services or materials.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's
1-6 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending Subsection (a) and
1-7 adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
1-8 (a) All information collected, assembled, or maintained by
1-9 or for governmental bodies, except in those situations where the
1-10 governmental body does not have either a right of access to or
1-11 ownership of the information, pursuant to law or ordinance or in
1-12 connection with the transaction of official business is public
1-13 information and available to the public during normal business
1-14 hours of any governmental body, with the following exceptions only:
1-15 (1) information deemed confidential by law, either
1-16 Constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision;
1-17 (2) information in personnel files, the disclosure of
1-18 which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
1-19 privacy, and transcripts from institutions of higher education
1-20 maintained in the personnel files of professional public school
1-21 employees; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be
1-22 construed to exempt from disclosure the degree obtained and the
1-23 curriculum on such transcripts of professional public school
1-24 employees, and further provided that all information in personnel
2-1 files of an individual employee within a governmental body is to be
2-2 made available to that individual employee or his designated
2-3 representative as is public information under this Act;
2-4 (3) information relating to litigation of a criminal
2-5 or civil nature and settlement negotiations, to which the state or
2-6 political subdivision is, or may be, a party, or to which an
2-7 officer or employee of the state or political subdivision, as a
2-8 consequence of his office or employment, is or may be a party, that
2-9 the attorney general or the respective attorneys of the various
2-10 political subdivisions has determined should be withheld from
2-11 public inspection;
2-12 (4) information which, if released, would give
2-13 advantage to competitors or bidders;
2-14 (5) information pertaining to the location of real or
2-15 personal property for public purposes prior to public announcement
2-16 of the project, and information pertaining to appraisals or
2-17 purchase price of real or personal property for public purposes
2-18 prior to the formal award of contracts therefor;
2-19 (6) drafts and working papers involved in the
2-20 preparation of proposed legislation;
2-21 (7) matters in which the duty of the Attorney General
2-22 of Texas or an attorney of a political subdivision, to his client,
2-23 pursuant to the Rules and Canons of Ethics of the State Bar of
2-24 Texas are prohibited from disclosure, or which by order of a court
2-25 are prohibited from disclosure;
2-26 (8) records of law enforcement agencies and
2-27 prosecutors that deal with the detection, investigation, and
3-1 prosecution of crime and the internal records and notations of such
3-2 law enforcement agencies and prosecutors which are maintained for
3-3 internal use in matters relating to law enforcement and
3-4 prosecution;
3-5 (9) private correspondence and communications of an
3-6 elected office holder relating to matters the disclosure of which
3-7 would constitute an invasion of privacy;
3-8 (10) trade secrets and commercial or financial
3-9 information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential
3-10 by statute or judicial decision;
3-11 (11) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or
3-12 letters which would not be available by law to a party in
3-13 litigation with the agency;
3-14 (12) information contained in or related to
3-15 examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf
3-16 of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or
3-17 supervision of financial institutions, and/or securities, as that
3-18 term is defined in the Texas Securities Act;
3-19 (13) geological and geophysical information and data
3-20 including maps concerning wells, except information filed in
3-21 connection with an application or proceeding before any agency or
3-22 an electric log confidential under Subchapter M, Chapter 91,
3-23 Natural Resources Code;
3-24 (14) student records at educational institutions
3-25 funded wholly, or in part, by state revenue; but such records shall
3-26 be made available upon request of educational institution
3-27 personnel, the student involved, that student's parent, legal
4-1 guardian, or spouse or a person conducting a child abuse
4-2 investigation required by Section 34.05, Family Code;
4-3 (15) birth and death records maintained by the Bureau
4-4 of Vital Statistics of the Texas Department of Health, except that:
4-5 (A) a birth record is public information and
4-6 available to the public on and after the 50th anniversary of the
4-7 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
4-8 Statistics or local registration official; and
4-9 (B) a death record is public information and
4-10 available to the public on and after the 25th anniversary of the
4-11 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
4-12 Statistics or local registration official;
4-13 (16) the audit working papers of the State Auditor;
4-14 (17) information relating to:
4-15 (A) the home addresses or home telephone numbers
4-16 of each official or employee or each former official or employee of
4-17 a governmental body except as otherwise provided by Section 3A of
4-18 this Act, or of peace officers as defined by Article 2.12, Code of
4-19 Criminal Procedure, 1965, as amended, or by Section 51.212, Texas
4-20 Education Code; or
4-21 (B) the home addresses, home telephone numbers,
4-22 or social security numbers of employees of the Texas Department of
4-23 Criminal Justice, or the home or employment addresses or telephone
4-24 numbers or the names or social security numbers of their family
4-25 members;
4-26 (18) information contained on or derived from
4-27 triplicate prescription forms filed with the Department of Public
5-1 Safety pursuant to Section 481.075, Health and Safety Code;
5-2 (19) photographs that depict a peace officer as
5-3 defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a security
5-4 officer commissioned under Section 51.212, Education Code, the
5-5 release of which would endanger the life or physical safety of the
5-6 officer unless:
5-7 (A) the officer is under indictment or charged
5-8 with an offense by information; or
5-9 (B) the officer is a party in a fire or police
5-10 civil service hearing or a case in arbitration; or
5-11 (C) the photograph is introduced as evidence in
5-12 a judicial proceeding;
5-13 (20) rare books and original manuscripts which were
5-14 not created or maintained in the conduct of official business of a
5-15 governmental body and which are held by any private or public
5-16 archival and manuscript repository for the purposes of historical
5-17 research;
5-18 (21) oral history interviews, personal papers,
5-19 unpublished letters, and organizational records of nongovernmental
5-20 entities, which were not created or maintained in the conduct of
5-21 official business of a governmental body and which are held by any
5-22 private or public archival and manuscript repository for the
5-23 purposes of historical research, to the extent that the archival
5-24 and manuscript repository and the donor of the interviews, papers,
5-25 letters, and records may agree to limit disclosure of the item;
5-26 (22) curriculum objectives and test items developed by
5-27 educational institutions that are funded wholly or in part by state
6-1 revenue and test items developed by licensing agencies or
6-2 governmental bodies; <and>
6-3 (23) the names of applicants for the position of chief
6-4 executive officer of institutions of higher education, except that
6-5 the governing body of the institution of higher education must give
6-6 public notice of the name or names of the finalists being
6-7 considered for the position at least 21 days prior to the meeting
6-8 at which final action or vote is to be taken on the employment of
6-9 the individual; and
6-10 (24) records of a library or library system, supported
6-11 in whole or in part by public funds, that identify or serve to
6-12 identify a person who requested, obtained, or used a library
6-13 material or service, unless the records are disclosed:
6-14 (A) because the library or library system
6-15 determines that disclosure is reasonably necessary for the
6-16 operation of the library or library system, and the records are not
6-17 confidential under other state or federal law;
6-18 (B) under Section 3B of this Act; or
6-19 (C) to a law enforcement agency or a prosecutor
6-20 under a court order or subpoena obtained after a showing to a
6-21 district court that:
6-22 (i) disclosure of the records is necessary
6-23 to protect the public safety; or
6-24 (ii) the records are evidence of an
6-25 offense or constitute evidence that a particular person committed
6-26 an offense.
6-27 (g) Records of a library or library system that are excepted
7-1 from required disclosure under Subsection (a)(24) of this section
7-2 are confidential.
7-3 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
7-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
7-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.