By Henderson S.B. No. 636
74R5994 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a suit filed seeking to withhold information requested
1-3 under the open records law and to the parties to the suit.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Sections 552.324 and 552.325 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 552.324. SUIT BY GOVERNMENTAL BODY. The only suit a
1-8 governmental body or officer for public records may file seeking to
1-9 withhold information from a person who has requested the
1-10 information for inspection or duplication under this chapter is a
1-11 suit that is filed in accordance with Sections 552.325 and 552.353
1-12 and that challenges a decision by the attorney general issued under
1-13 Subchapter G.
1-14 Sec. 552.325. PARTIES TO SUIT SEEKING TO WITHHOLD
1-15 INFORMATION. (a) A governmental body, officer for public records,
1-16 or other person or entity that files a suit seeking to withhold
1-17 information from a person who has requested the information for
1-18 inspection or duplication under this chapter may file the suit only
1-19 against the attorney general. The person requesting the
1-20 information for inspection or duplication under this chapter is
1-21 entitled to intervene in the suit and may not be named as a party
1-22 in the suit unless the person chooses to intervene.
1-23 (b) The governmental body, officer for public records, or
1-24 other person or entity that files the suit shall demonstrate to the
2-1 court that the governmental body, officer for public records, or
2-2 other person or entity made a timely good faith effort to inform
2-3 the person requesting the information for inspection or duplication
2-4 under this chapter, by certified mail or by another written method
2-5 of notice that requires the return of a receipt, of:
2-6 (1) the existence of the suit, including the subject
2-7 matter and cause number of the suit and the court in which the suit
2-8 is filed;
2-9 (2) the person's right to intervene in the suit or to
2-10 choose to not participate in the suit;
2-11 (3) the fact that the suit is against the attorney
2-12 general; and
2-13 (4) the address and phone number of the office of the
2-14 attorney general.
2-15 (c) If the attorney general agrees that all or part of the
2-16 information that is the subject of the suit should be withheld and
2-17 decides not to contest withholding that information, the attorney
2-18 general shall notify the person requesting the information for
2-19 inspection or duplication under this chapter of that decision and,
2-20 if the person has not intervened in the suit, of the person's right
2-21 to intervene to contest the withholding. The attorney general
2-22 shall notify the person:
2-23 (1) in the manner required by the Texas Rules of Civil
2-24 Procedure, if the person has intervened in the suit; or
2-25 (2) by certified mail or by another written method of
2-26 notice that requires the return of a receipt, if the person has not
2-27 intervened in the suit.
3-1 (d) The court shall allow the person a reasonable period to
3-2 intervene after the attorney general attempts to give notice under
3-3 Subsection (c)(2).
3-4 SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
3-5 a suit filed under Chapter 552, Government Code, on or after the
3-6 effective date of this Act.
3-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-13 passage, and it is so enacted.