By Raymond                                       H.B. No. 562

      75R3609 JRD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to excepting from required disclosure under the open

 1-3     records law certain information related to an athletic or other

 1-4     scholastic competition.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 552.1045 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 552.1045.  EXCEPTION:  CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATED TO

 1-9     ATHLETIC OR OTHER SCHOLASTIC COMPETITION.  (a)  Information of a

1-10     school or institution of higher education that is supported in

1-11     whole or in part by public funds is excepted from the requirements

1-12     of Section 552.021 if:

1-13                 (1)  the information relates to an athletic or other

1-14     scholastic competition in which the school or institution or a

1-15     student of the school or institution is a participant or host; and

1-16                 (2)  disclosure of the information could reasonably be

1-17     expected to affect the strategies or tactics employed in the

1-18     competition.

1-19           (b)  Subsection (a) does not except from required disclosure:

1-20                 (1)  information that:

1-21                       (A)  relates to the recruitment of a player,

1-22     coach, or other participant in an athletic or other scholastic

1-23     competition; or

1-24                       (B)  is biographical information about a player,

 2-1     coach, or other participant in an athletic or other scholastic

 2-2     competition;

 2-3                 (2)  information related to attending the competition

 2-4     as a participant or spectator, such as information about the time

 2-5     or place of or the price to attend the competition; or

 2-6                 (3)  other information that is related to the

 2-7     competition and traditionally considered open, such as information

 2-8     about the rules or conditions of the competition.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  Section 552.1045, Government Code, as added by

2-10     this Act, applies to a request for information made before, on, or

2-11     after the effective date of this Act.

2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.