By: Watson S.B. No. 944
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the public information law.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 552.003, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subdivision (7) to read as follows:
               (7)  "Temporary custodian" means an officer or employee
  of a governmental body who, in the transaction of official
  business, creates or receives public information that the officer
  or employee has not provided to the officer for public information
  of the governmental body or the officer's agent. The term includes
  a former officer or employee of a governmental body who created or
  received public information in the officer's or employee's official
  capacity that has not been provided to the officer for public
  information of the governmental body or the officer's agent.
         SECTION 2.  Section 552.004, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 552.004.  PRESERVATION OF INFORMATION. (a) A
  governmental body or, for information of an elective county office,
  the elected county officer, may determine a time for which
  information that is not currently in use will be preserved, subject
  to Subsection (b) and to any applicable rule or law governing the
  destruction and other disposition of state and local government
  records or public information.
         (b)  A current or former officer or employee of a
  governmental body who maintains public information on a privately
  owned device shall:
               (1)  forward or transfer the public information to the
  governmental body or a governmental body server to be preserved as
  provided by Subsection (a); or
               (2)  preserve the public information in its original
  form on the privately owned device for the time described under
  Subsection (a).
         (c)  The provisions of Chapter 441 of this code and Title 6,
  Local Government Code, governing the preservation, destruction, or
  other disposition of records or public information apply to records
  and public information held by a temporary custodian.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 552.159 to read as follows:
         Sec. 552.159.  EXCEPTION: CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN
  HEALTHCARE INFORMATION. A record of the identity, diagnosis,
  evaluation, or treatment of a patient by a physician or hospital
  that is created or maintained by a physician or hospital is
  confidential and excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021.
         SECTION 4.  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)  make reasonable efforts to obtain public
  information from a temporary custodian if:
                     (A)  the information has been requested from the
  governmental body;
                     (B)  the officer for public information is aware
  of facts sufficient to warrant a reasonable belief that the
  temporary custodian has possession, custody, or control of the
  information;
                     (C)  the officer for public information is unable
  to comply with the duties imposed by this chapter without obtaining
  the information from the temporary custodian; and
                     (D)  the temporary custodian has not provided the
  information to the officer for public information or the officer's
  agent.
         SECTION 5.  Subchapter E, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Sections 552.233, 552.234, and 552.235 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 while acting in an
  official capacity.
         (b)  A temporary custodian with possession, custody, or
  control of public information shall surrender or return the
  information to the governmental body not later than the 10th day
  after the date the officer for public information of the
  governmental body or the officer's agent requests the temporary
  custodian to surrender or return the information.
         (c)  A temporary custodian's failure to surrender or return
  public information as required by Subsection (b) is grounds for
  disciplinary action by the governmental body that employs the
  temporary custodian or any other applicable penalties provided by
  this chapter or other law.
         (d)  For purposes of the application of Subchapter G to
  information surrendered or returned to a governmental body by a
  temporary custodian under Subsection (b), the governmental body is
  considered to receive the request for that information on the date
  the information is surrendered or returned to the governmental
  body.
         Sec. 552.234.  DESIGNATED ELECTRONIC MAIL AND MAILING
  ADDRESSES FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUESTS. A governmental body may
  designate one electronic mail address and one mailing address for
  receiving written requests for public information. If an inquiry
  is made to a governmental body regarding the procedures for
  requesting public information, the governmental body shall provide
  the designated electronic mail and mailing addresses. A
  governmental body that posts the designated electronic mail and
  mailing addresses on the governmental body's Internet website is
  not required to respond to a written request for public information
  that is not received at one of those addresses.
         Sec. 552.235.  PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUEST FORM. (a) The
  attorney general shall create a public information request form
  that provides a requestor the option of excluding from a request
  information that the governmental body determines is:
         (1)  confidential; or
         (2)  subject to an exception to disclosure that the
  governmental body would assert if the information were subject to
  the request.
         (b)  A governmental body that allows requestors to use the
  form described by Subsection (a) and maintains an Internet website
  shall post the form on its website.
         SECTION 6.  Section 552.301(c), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (c)  For purposes of this subchapter and subject to Section
  552.234, a written request includes a request made in writing that
  is sent to the officer for public information, or the person
  designated by that officer, by electronic mail or facsimile
  transmission.
         SECTION 7.  The attorney general shall create a public
  information request form under Section 552.235(a), Government
  Code, as added by this Act, not later than October 1, 2019.
         SECTION 8.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  a request for public information received on or after the effective
  date of this Act. A request for public information received before
  the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when
  the request was received, and the former law is continued in effect
  for that purpose.
         SECTION 9.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.