1-1 By: Armbrister S.B. No. 360
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 16, 1993; February 16, 1993,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 March 15, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8,
1-5 Nays 0; March 15, 1993, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-7 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-8 Harris of Dallas x
1-9 Rosson x
1-10 Carriker x
1-11 Henderson x
1-12 Leedom x
1-13 Lucio x
1-14 Luna x
1-15 Nelson x
1-16 Patterson x
1-17 Shelley x
1-18 Sibley x
1-19 West x
1-20 Whitmire x
1-21 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-22 AN ACT
1-23 relating to making confidential a record that would identify a
1-24 person who uses library services or materials.
1-25 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-26 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd
1-27 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's
1-28 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending Subsection (a) and
1-29 adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
1-30 (a) All information collected, assembled, or maintained by
1-31 or for governmental bodies, except in those situations where the
1-32 governmental body does not have either a right of access to or
1-33 ownership of the information, pursuant to law or ordinance or in
1-34 connection with the transaction of official business is public
1-35 information and available to the public during normal business
1-36 hours of any governmental body, with the following exceptions only:
1-37 (1) information deemed confidential by law, either
1-38 Constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision;
1-39 (2) information in personnel files, the disclosure of
1-40 which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
1-41 privacy, and transcripts from institutions of higher education
1-42 maintained in the personnel files of professional public school
1-43 employees; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be
1-44 construed to exempt from disclosure the degree obtained and the
1-45 curriculum on such transcripts of professional public school
1-46 employees, and further provided that all information in personnel
1-47 files of an individual employee within a governmental body is to be
1-48 made available to that individual employee or his designated
1-49 representative as is public information under this Act;
1-50 (3) information relating to litigation of a criminal
1-51 or civil nature and settlement negotiations, to which the state or
1-52 political subdivision is, or may be, a party, or to which an
1-53 officer or employee of the state or political subdivision, as a
1-54 consequence of his office or employment, is or may be a party, that
1-55 the attorney general or the respective attorneys of the various
1-56 political subdivisions has determined should be withheld from
1-57 public inspection;
1-58 (4) information which, if released, would give
1-59 advantage to competitors or bidders;
1-60 (5) information pertaining to the location of real or
1-61 personal property for public purposes prior to public announcement
1-62 of the project, and information pertaining to appraisals or
1-63 purchase price of real or personal property for public purposes
1-64 prior to the formal award of contracts therefor;
1-65 (6) drafts and working papers involved in the
1-66 preparation of proposed legislation;
1-67 (7) matters in which the duty of the Attorney General
1-68 of Texas or an attorney of a political subdivision, to his client,
2-1 pursuant to the Rules and Canons of Ethics of the State Bar of
2-2 Texas are prohibited from disclosure, or which by order of a court
2-3 are prohibited from disclosure;
2-4 (8) records of law enforcement agencies and
2-5 prosecutors that deal with the detection, investigation, and
2-6 prosecution of crime and the internal records and notations of such
2-7 law enforcement agencies and prosecutors which are maintained for
2-8 internal use in matters relating to law enforcement and
2-9 prosecution;
2-10 (9) private correspondence and communications of an
2-11 elected office holder relating to matters the disclosure of which
2-12 would constitute an invasion of privacy;
2-13 (10) trade secrets and commercial or financial
2-14 information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential
2-15 by statute or judicial decision;
2-16 (11) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or
2-17 letters which would not be available by law to a party in
2-18 litigation with the agency;
2-19 (12) information contained in or related to
2-20 examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf
2-21 of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or
2-22 supervision of financial institutions, and/or securities, as that
2-23 term is defined in the Texas Securities Act;
2-24 (13) geological and geophysical information and data
2-25 including maps concerning wells, except information filed in
2-26 connection with an application or proceeding before any agency or
2-27 an electric log confidential under Subchapter M, Chapter 91,
2-28 Natural Resources Code;
2-29 (14) student records at educational institutions
2-30 funded wholly, or in part, by state revenue; but such records shall
2-31 be made available upon request of educational institution
2-32 personnel, the student involved, that student's parent, legal
2-33 guardian, or spouse or a person conducting a child abuse
2-34 investigation required by Section 34.05, Family Code;
2-35 (15) birth and death records maintained by the Bureau
2-36 of Vital Statistics of the Texas Department of Health, except that:
2-37 (A) a birth record is public information and
2-38 available to the public on and after the 50th anniversary of the
2-39 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
2-40 Statistics or local registration official; and
2-41 (B) a death record is public information and
2-42 available to the public on and after the 25th anniversary of the
2-43 date on which the record is filed with the Bureau of Vital
2-44 Statistics or local registration official;
2-45 (16) the audit working papers of the State Auditor;
2-46 (17) information relating to:
2-47 (A) the home addresses or home telephone numbers
2-48 of each official or employee or each former official or employee of
2-49 a governmental body except as otherwise provided by Section 3A of
2-50 this Act, or of peace officers as defined by Article 2.12, Code of
2-51 Criminal Procedure, 1965, as amended, or by Section 51.212, Texas
2-52 Education Code; or
2-53 (B) the home addresses, home telephone numbers,
2-54 or social security numbers of employees of the Texas Department of
2-55 Criminal Justice, or the home or employment addresses or telephone
2-56 numbers or the names or social security numbers of their family
2-57 members;
2-58 (18) information contained on or derived from
2-59 triplicate prescription forms filed with the Department of Public
2-60 Safety pursuant to Section 481.075, Health and Safety Code;
2-61 (19) photographs that depict a peace officer as
2-62 defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a security
2-63 officer commissioned under Section 51.212, Education Code, the
2-64 release of which would endanger the life or physical safety of the
2-65 officer unless:
2-66 (A) the officer is under indictment or charged
2-67 with an offense by information; or
2-68 (B) the officer is a party in a fire or police
2-69 civil service hearing or a case in arbitration; or
2-70 (C) the photograph is introduced as evidence in
3-1 a judicial proceeding;
3-2 (20) rare books and original manuscripts which were
3-3 not created or maintained in the conduct of official business of a
3-4 governmental body and which are held by any private or public
3-5 archival and manuscript repository for the purposes of historical
3-6 research;
3-7 (21) oral history interviews, personal papers,
3-8 unpublished letters, and organizational records of nongovernmental
3-9 entities, which were not created or maintained in the conduct of
3-10 official business of a governmental body and which are held by any
3-11 private or public archival and manuscript repository for the
3-12 purposes of historical research, to the extent that the archival
3-13 and manuscript repository and the donor of the interviews, papers,
3-14 letters, and records may agree to limit disclosure of the item;
3-15 (22) curriculum objectives and test items developed by
3-16 educational institutions that are funded wholly or in part by state
3-17 revenue and test items developed by licensing agencies or
3-18 governmental bodies; <and>
3-19 (23) the names of applicants for the position of chief
3-20 executive officer of institutions of higher education, except that
3-21 the governing body of the institution of higher education must give
3-22 public notice of the name or names of the finalists being
3-23 considered for the position at least 21 days prior to the meeting
3-24 at which final action or vote is to be taken on the employment of
3-25 the individual; and
3-26 (24) records of a library or library system, supported
3-27 in whole or in part by public funds, that identify or serve to
3-28 identify a person who requested, obtained, or used a library
3-29 material or service, unless the records are disclosed:
3-30 (A) because the library or library system
3-31 determines that disclosure is reasonably necessary for the
3-32 operation of the library or library system, and the records are not
3-33 confidential under other state or federal law;
3-34 (B) under Section 3B of this Act; or
3-35 (C) to a law enforcement agency or a prosecutor
3-36 under a court order or subpoena obtained after a showing to a
3-37 district court that:
3-38 (i) disclosure of the records is necessary
3-39 to protect the public safety; or
3-40 (ii) the records are evidence of an
3-41 offense or constitute evidence that a particular person committed
3-42 an offense.
3-43 (g) Records of a library or library system that are excepted
3-44 from required disclosure under Subsection (a)(24) of this section
3-45 are confidential.
3-46 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-47 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-48 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-49 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-50 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-51 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-52 * * * * *
3-53 Austin,
3-54 Texas
3-55 March 15, 1993
3-56 Hon. Bob Bullock
3-57 President of the Senate
3-58 Sir:
3-59 We, your Committee on State Affairs to which was referred S.B.
3-60 No. 360, have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed
3-61 to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
3-62 pass and be printed.
3-63 Harris of
3-64 Dallas, Chairman
3-65 * * * * *
3-66 WITNESSES
3-67 FOR AGAINST ON
3-68 ___________________________________________________________________
3-69 Name: Walter Fisher x
3-70 Representing: TML
4-1 City: Austin
4-2 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-3 Name: James McCarley x
4-4 Representing: City of Plano
4-5 City: Plano
4-6 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-7 Name: Ed Howard x
4-8 Representing: City of Austin
4-9 City: Austin
4-10 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-11 Name: Susan Soy x
4-12 Representing: City of Austin
4-13 City: Austin
4-14 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-15 Name: Sam Stone x
4-16 Representing: Tx Library Assoc.
4-17 City: Austin
4-18 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-19 Name: Steven Brown x
4-20 Representing: Tx Library Assoc
4-21 City: Alvin
4-22 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-23 Name: James Stewart x
4-24 Representing: Tx Library Assoc
4-25 City: Austin
4-26 -------------------------------------------------------------------