85R9399 BEF-F
	By: Hunter	H.B. No. 2670

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to public information in the possession, custody, or
	control of a current or former officer or employee of a governmental
	body; creating a criminal offense.
	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 required under
	Subsection (a).
	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)  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 of the
	governmental body or the officer's agent.
	SECTION 4.  Subchapter E, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 552.234 to read as follows:
	Sec. 552.234.  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)  If a temporary custodian fails to surrender or return
	public information to a governmental body as required by Subsection
	(b), the officer for public information of the governmental body
	shall, not later than the 10th business day after the deadline to
	surrender or return information under Subsection (b), notify the
	attorney general in writing of the facts related to the failure and
	send a copy of the written notice to the requestor. On receipt of
	written notice from an officer for public information as provided
	by this subsection, the attorney general may sue for an injunction
	or writ of mandamus to compel a temporary custodian with
	possession, custody, or control of public information to surrender
	or return the information as required by Subsection (b). A suit
	filed under this subsection:
	(1)  must be filed in a district court for the county in
	which the main offices of the governmental body are located;
	(2)  may not proceed, and process may not be issued,
	until the court enters a written finding that the petition sets
	forth facts sufficient to warrant probable cause that the current
	or former officer or employee against whom the action is filed is in
	possession, custody, or control of public information that has not
	been made available to the governmental body that owns the
	information; and
	(3)  shall be dismissed, with prejudice except as
	provided by Subsection (e), if the current or former officer or
	employee files an answer containing a general denial supported by a
	sworn affidavit stating the current or former officer or employee
	is not in possession, custody, or control of public information
	responsive to the request at issue.
	(d)  The attorney general shall send a copy of a petition
	filed under Subsection (c) to the requestor.
	(e)  A suit dismissed under Subsection (c)(3) is dismissed
	without prejudice and may be refiled by the attorney general if the
	current or former officer or employee, in providing the affidavit
	authorized under Subsection (c)(3), engaged in conduct that is an
	offense under Section 37.02 or 37.03, Penal Code, and is arrested,
	charged, or indicted for that offense. Subsection (c)(3) does not
	apply to a suit refiled under this subsection.
	(f)  For purposes of the application of Subchapter G to
	information surrendered or returned to a governmental body by a
	temporary custodian under Subsection (b) or as a result of a suit
	under Subsection (c), 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.
	SECTION 5.  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 TEMPORARY CUSTODIAN TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO OR COPYING
	OF PUBLIC INFORMATION.
	SECTION 6.  Section 552.353, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
	(a-1)  A temporary custodian who has possession, custody, or
	control of public information responsive to a request commits an
	offense if, with criminal negligence, the temporary custodian fails
	to surrender or return the information to the governmental body on
	request of the officer for public information or the officer's
	agent, as required by Section 552.234(b).
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.