84R6002 BEF-F
 
  By: Hunter H.B. No. 1764
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the definition of, custody of, and access to public
  information; providing a criminal penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 552.002(a), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  In this chapter, "public information" means:
               (1)  a state record;
               (2)  a local government record; or
               (3)  information that is written, produced, collected,
  assembled, or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection
  with the transaction of official business:
                     (A) [(1)]  by a governmental body;
                     (B) [(2)]  for a governmental body and the
  governmental body:
                           (i) [(A)]  owns the information;
                           (ii) [(B)] has a right of access to the
  information; or
                           (iii) [(C)] spends or contributes public
  money for the purpose of writing, producing, collecting,
  assembling, or maintaining the information; or
                     (C) [(3)]  by an individual officer or employee of
  a governmental body [in the officer's or employee's official
  capacity and the information pertains to official business of the
  governmental body].
         SECTION 2.  Section 552.003, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (1-a), (1-b), and
  (7) to read as follows:
               (1)  "Custodian" means a public officer or employee
  who:
                     (A)  by law, ordinance, or administrative policy
  is in charge of an office that creates or receives a state record or
  local government record; or
                     (B)  in the transaction of official business,
  creates or receives public information that the public officer or
  employee has not provided to the records management officer or the
  officer for public information of the governmental body.
               (1-a) "Governmental body":
                     (A)  means:
                           (i)  a board, commission, department,
  committee, institution, agency, or office that is within or is
  created by the executive or legislative branch of state government
  and that is directed by one or more elected or appointed members;
                           (ii)  a county commissioners court in the
  state;
                           (iii)  a municipal governing body in the
  state;
                           (iv)  a deliberative body that has
  rulemaking or quasi-judicial power and that is classified as a
  department, agency, or political subdivision of a county or
  municipality;
                           (v)  a school district board of trustees;
                           (vi)  a county board of school trustees;
                           (vii)  a county board of education;
                           (viii)  the governing board of a special
  district;
                           (ix)  the governing body of a nonprofit
  corporation organized under Chapter 67, Water Code, that provides a
  water supply or wastewater service, or both, and is exempt from ad
  valorem taxation under Section 11.30, Tax Code;
                           (x)  a local workforce development board
  created under Section 2308.253;
                           (xi)  a nonprofit corporation that is
  eligible to receive funds under the federal community services
  block grant program and that is authorized by this state to serve a
  geographic area of the state; and
                           (xii)  the part, section, or portion of an
  organization, corporation, commission, committee, institution, or
  agency that spends or that is supported in whole or in part by
  public funds; and
                     (B)  does not include the judiciary.
               (1-b) "Local government record" has the meaning
  assigned by Section 441.151.
               (7)  "State record" has the meaning assigned by Section
  441.031.
         SECTION 3.  Section 552.203, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 552.203.  GENERAL DUTIES OF OFFICER FOR PUBLIC
  INFORMATION. Each officer for public information, subject to
  penalties provided in this chapter, shall:
               (1)  make public information available for public
  inspection and copying;
               (2)  carefully protect public information from
  deterioration, alteration, mutilation, loss, or unlawful removal;
  [and]
               (3)  repair, renovate, or rebind public information as
  necessary to maintain it properly; and
               (4)  obtain information from a custodian who has access
  to public information being requested from the governmental body.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter E, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 552.233 to read as follows:
         Sec. 552.233.  OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC INFORMATION. (a) A
  current or former officer or employee of a governmental body does
  not have, by virtue of the officer's or employee's position or
  former position, a personal or property right to public information
  the officer or employee created or received in the performance of
  the officer's or employee's duties.
         (b)  A current or former officer or employee with possession,
  custody, or control of public information shall surrender or return
  that public information to the governmental body on request or
  demand by the custodian or officer for public information of the
  governmental body.
         (c)  A requestor, custodian, or officer for public
  information may sue in district court for an injunction or mandamus
  to compel a current or former officer or employee of a governmental
  body with possession, custody, or control of public information to
  surrender or return the public information as required by
  Subsection (b).
         (d)  A governmental body, custodian, or officer for public
  information shall obtain possession, custody, or control of public
  information from a current or former officer or employee to the
  extent necessary to comply with the governmental body's obligations
  under this chapter to produce public information for inspection or
  copying. A governmental body, custodian, or officer for public
  information who fails to comply with this subsection may be
  included in a suit under Subsection (c).
         SECTION 5.  Section 552.321(a), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  A requestor or the attorney general may file suit for a
  writ of mandamus compelling a governmental body or its officer for
  public information to obtain and [to] make information available
  for public inspection if the governmental body or its officer for
  public information fails [refuses] to request an attorney general's
  decision as provided by Subchapter G, fails to promptly [or refuses
  to] supply public information, or fails to promptly supply
  information that the attorney general has determined is public
  information that is not excepted from disclosure under Subchapter
  C.
         SECTION 6.  The heading to Section 552.353, Government Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 552.353.  FAILURE OR REFUSAL OF OFFICER FOR PUBLIC
  INFORMATION OR CUSTODIAN TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO OR COPYING OF PUBLIC
  INFORMATION.
         SECTION 7.  Sections 552.353(a) and (b), Government Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  An officer for public information, [or] the officer's
  agent, or the custodian of the records at issue commits an offense
  if, with criminal negligence, the officer, [or] the officer's
  agent, or the custodian fails or refuses to give access to, or to
  permit or provide copying of, public information to a requestor as
  provided by this chapter.
         (b)  It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
  Subsection (a) that the officer for public information or the
  custodian reasonably believed that public access to the requested
  information was not required and that:
               (1)  the officer or custodian acted in reasonable
  reliance on a court order or a written interpretation of this
  chapter contained in an opinion of a court of record or of the
  attorney general issued under Subchapter G;
               (2)  the officer or custodian requested a decision from
  the attorney general in accordance with Subchapter G, and the
  decision is pending; or
               (3)  not later than the 10th calendar day after the date
  of receipt of a decision by the attorney general that the
  information is public, the officer, the custodian, or the
  governmental body for whom the defendant is the officer for public
  information filed a petition for a declaratory judgment against the
  attorney general in a Travis County district court seeking relief
  from compliance with the decision of the attorney general, as
  provided by Section 552.324, and the cause is pending.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.