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.