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Open records in Texas

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is just a perspective of a layman. I am not a lawyer. This does not constitute legal advice.

In Texas, open records requesters have at least three tools:

Tool Used for Who can help you Notes
Texas Public Information Act Any information outside the judiciary Texas Office of the Attorney General's Open Records Division Appears to cover virtually everything outside the judicial branch.
Rule 12 of the Texas Rules of Judicial Administration Judicial records other than case records Administrative Director of the Texas Office of Court Administration In practical respects, Rule 12 seems analogous to the TIPA, just implemented through the Texas judiciary's own rules instead of by statute.
Common law apparently affirmed by Nixon v. Warner Communications, 1978 (435 U.S. 589) Case records You're on your own See Common Law section below.

Common law

Case Affirms common law right to
Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978) Judicial records and documents
United States v. Amodeo, 44 F.3d 141 (2d Cir. 1995) Documents filed with court that relate to performance of judicial function and aid judicial process
Republic of Philippines v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 949 F.2d 653, 662 (3d Cir. 1991) Documents submitted with summary judgment motion
Rushford v. New Yorker Magazine, 846 F.2d 249, 253 (1988)
Publicker Indus., Inc. v. Cohen, 733 F.2d 1059, 1066-67(1984) Civil court records
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. Federal Trade Comm'n, 710 F.2d 1165, 1179 (1983) "strong common law presumption in favor of public access to court proceedings and records"

(This table partly based on footnote 1 in http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/c07p01.html.)

The prevailing law appears to permit access to all information, including that which might normally be normally confidential or even deemed private under other statutes, except if it will be used for "improper purposes".

Lessons learned

I have submitted many open records requests while working on this doctorate. Here's some lessons learned:

  • Don't get technical and invoke the law right away. Just request the data you want. The recipient of your request should understand that you have a right to almost all the information they have access to. Only start invoking the law if you are sure of your interpretation and the agency is hostile to your request.
  • Be precise. It's much easier for them to reject a vague request.
  • Government employees are usually not the enemy. There are exceptions: my open records log shows that some made my life much more difficult than necessary. But most will comply, especially if you gently explain the law to them.
  • Government employees may not know how to pull the data. I had several jurisdictions where I had to provide instructions on how to pull data out of their systems. I had to call the vendor of their court management system to get instructions. In some cases, the jurisdiction had to outsource, and I had to pay for, generating the responsive data.
  • Persistence is key. Your request is probably a distraction from what employees really need to get done, and in small number of cases, your request will be intentionally resisted by hostile staff. Sometimes you have no option than to just keep at it.
  • They can charge you. Both the TPIA and Rule 12 prescribe fees that can be charged for labor and materials (TIPA, Rule 12--skip to 12.7).
  • ...but you can make it less expensive. Try to request electronic copies. Not only does it avoid printing and shipping charges and labor, all-electronic means it's far easier for you to analyze any data.
  • ...and they can not charge you. Treat them nicely, and they may just happen to decline to charge you.
  • You don't have to tell them why you want the data, but do it if it helps. In my case, I am doing doctoral research, so that only helped my case. An exception could be if you want data that they feel shouldn't be disclosed. Then you have three alternatives: sweet talk, invoke relevant law and be prepared to appeal, or just tell them what you're doing.
  • The data you want may be in different places. I am mostly requesting traffic ticket data. Most of the time sufficient data is in the court's records management system. However, I came across some instances where the police department had much better records.
  • Send the request to the records' owner. A lot of what I requested were judicial records, so I sent the requests to the court administrator or the municipal judge. Failing that, try the city secretary.
  • If the jurisdiction wants to deny a TPIA request, they must either request a decision from the Texas Attorney General or they must cite a prior Texas Attorney General decision that specifically says the jurisdiction can automatically deny requests. An example of such a decision is ORD-684 (2009) which "constitutes a previous determination allowing all governmental bodies to withhold, without the necessity of  first requesting an attorney general decision, specific categories of  information under various exceptions to disclosure in the PIA and other statutes." Barring them referencing a decision with language like this, the jurisdiction must request a decision from the attorney general if it wishes to deny your request, and it must provide you a copy of this request.
  • You can give your side to the attorney general. Make sure it's well-reasoned and well-referenced, and especially back it up with specific references to statute or prior decisions. An example for me is where Grand Prairie requested a decision. I sent in my response to their request. The attorney general's letter ruling strongly supported my case.