CHAPTER 201. GENERAL PROVISIONS

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE

TITLE 6. RECORDS

SUBTITLE C. RECORDS PROVISIONS APPLYING TO MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 201. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 201.001. SHORT TITLE. This subtitle may be cited as the

Local Government Records Act.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989.

Sec. 201.002. PURPOSE. Recognizing that the citizens of the

state have a right to expect, and the state has an obligation to

foster, efficient and cost-effective government and recognizing

the central importance of local government records in the lives

of all citizens, the legislature finds that:

(1) the efficient management of local government records is

necessary to the effective and economic operation of local and

state government;

(2) the preservation of local government records of permanent

value is necessary to provide the people of the state with

resources concerning their history and to document their rights

of citizenship and property;

(3) convenient access to advice and assistance based on

well-established and professionally recognized records management

techniques and practices is necessary to promote the

establishment of sound records management programs in local

governments, and the state can provide the assistance impartially

and uniformly; and

(4) the establishment of uniform standards and procedures for

the maintenance, preservation, microfilming, or other disposition

of local government records is necessary to fulfill these

important public purposes.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989.

Sec. 201.003. DEFINITIONS. In this subtitle:

(1) "Commission" means the Texas State Library and Archives

Commission.

(2) "Custodian" means the appointed or elected public officer

who by the state constitution, state law, ordinance, or

administrative policy is in charge of an office that creates or

receives local government records.

(3) "Designee" means an employee of the commission designated by

the director and librarian as provided by Section 441.167,

Government Code.

(4) "Director and librarian" means the executive and

administrative officer of the Texas State Library and Archives

Commission.

(5) "Essential record" means any local government record

necessary to the resumption or continuation of government

operations in an emergency or disaster, to the re-creation of the

legal and financial status of the government, or to the

protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the

state.

(6) "Governing body" means the court, council, board,

commission, or other body established or authorized by law to

govern the operations of a local government. In those instances

in which authority over an office or department of a local

government is shared by two or more governing bodies or by a

governing body and the state, the governing body, for the

purposes of this subtitle only, is the governing body that

provides most of the operational funding for the office or

department.

(7) "Local government" means a county, including all district

and precinct offices of a county, municipality, public school

district, appraisal district, or any other special-purpose

district or authority.

(8) "Local government record" means any document, paper, letter,

book, map, photograph, sound or video recording, microfilm,

magnetic tape, electronic medium, or other information recording

medium, regardless of physical form or characteristic and

regardless of whether public access to it is open or restricted

under the laws of the state, created or received by a local

government or any of its officers or employees pursuant to law,

including an ordinance, or in the transaction of public business.

The term does not include:

(A) extra identical copies of documents created only for

convenience of reference or research by officers or employees of

the local government;

(B) notes, journals, diaries, and similar documents created by

an officer or employee of the local government for the officer's

or employee's personal convenience;

(D) stocks of publications;

(E) library and museum materials acquired solely for the

purposes of reference or display;

(F) copies of documents in any media furnished to members of the

public to which they are entitled under Chapter 552, Government

Code, or other state law; or

(G) any records, correspondence, notes, memoranda, or documents,

other than a final written agreement described by Section

2009.054(c), Government Code, associated with a matter conducted

under an alternative dispute resolution procedure in which

personnel of a state department or institution, local government,

special district, or other political subdivision of the state

participated as a party, facilitated as an impartial third party,

or facilitated as the administrator of a dispute resolution

system or organization.

(9) "Office" means any office, department, division, program,

commission, bureau, board, committee, or similar entity of a

local government.

(10) "Permanent record" or "record of permanent value" means any

local government record for which the retention period on a

records retention schedule issued by the commission is given as

permanent.

(11) "Record" means a local government record.

(12) "Records control schedule" means a document prepared by or

under the authority of a records management officer listing the

records maintained by a local government or an elective county

office, their retention periods, and other records disposition

information that the records management program in each local

government or elective county office may require.

(13) "Records management" means the application of management

techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention,

preservation, and disposal of records for the purposes of

reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping.

The term includes the development of records control schedules,

the management of filing and information retrieval systems, the

protection of essential and permanent records, the economical and

space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the

creation and distribution of forms, reports, and correspondence,

and the management of micrographics and electronic and other

records storage systems.

(14) "Records management officer" means the person identified

under Section 203.001 or designated under Section 203.025 as the

records management officer.

(15) "Records retention schedule" means a document issued by the

Texas State Library and Archives Commission under authority of

Subchapter J, Chapter 441, Government Code, establishing

mandatory retention periods for local government records.

(16) "Retention period" means the minimum time that must pass

after the creation, recording, or receipt of a record, or the

fulfillment of certain actions associated with a record, before

it is eligible for destruction.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(90), eff. Sept. 1,

1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 31, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;

Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1352, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

Sec. 201.004. RECORD BOOKS. If a state law relating to the

keeping of records by a local government officer or employee

requires the records to be kept in a "book," "record book," or

"well-bound book," or contains any similar requirement that a

record be maintained in bound paper form, the record whose

creation is called for in the provision may be maintained on

microfilm or stored electronically in accordance with the

requirements of Chapters 204 and 205 and rules adopted under

those chapters unless the law specifically prohibits those

methods.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989.

Sec. 201.005. DECLARATION OF RECORDS AS PUBLIC PROPERTY; ACCESS.

(a) Local government records created or received in the

transaction of official business or the creation or maintenance

of which were paid for by public funds are declared to be public

property and are subject to the provisions of this subtitle and

Subchapter J, Chapter 441, Government Code.

(b) A local government officer or employee does not have, by

virtue of the officer's or employee's position, any personal or

property right to a local government record even though the

officer or employee developed or compiled it.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989.

Sec. 201.006. RECORDS TO BE DELIVERED TO SUCCESSOR IN OFFICE.

(a) A custodian of local government records shall, at the

expiration of the custodian's term of office, appointment, or

employment, deliver to the custodian's successor, if there is

one, all local government records in custody. If there is no

successor, the governing body shall determine which officer of

the local government shall have custody.

(b) If the functions of an office of one local government are

assumed by another local government, the governing bodies of the

two local governments shall determine in which local government

custody of the records of the office shall be vested.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989.

Sec. 201.007. RECORDS OF ABOLISHED LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. (a) If a

local government is abolished or declared void pursuant to state

law, the records of the local government shall be dealt with

according to this section.

(b) After the settlement of the outstanding indebtedness of an

abolished municipality and the satisfaction of the other

applicable requirements of Chapter 62, Local Government Code, the

municipality's governing body at the time the municipality is

abolished, or the receiver or trustees if appointed by a court,

shall transfer the records of the municipality to the custody of

the comptroller. A record of an abolished municipality may not be

sold to satisfy an outstanding indebtedness.

abolished special-purpose district or authority, other than a

school district, and the satisfaction of the other applicable

requirements of state law establishing or permitting the

establishment of the district or authority or governing its

abolition, the district's governing body at the time the district

is abolished shall transfer the records of the district to the

custody of the comptroller. A record of an abolished

special-purpose district or authority may not be sold to satisfy

an outstanding indebtedness.

(d) As an exception to Subsections (b) and (c), if some or all

of the functions of an abolished municipality or special-purpose

district or authority, other than a school district, are assumed

by another local government, the records of the abolished local

government relating to the assumed functions shall be transferred

to the appropriate offices of the local government assuming the

functions.

(e) The records of annexed, consolidated, or abolished school

districts shall be transferred as provided by this subsection.

The records of an annexed school district shall be transferred to

the custody of the governing body of the school district to which

the abolished school district has been annexed. The records of

each of two or more school districts that have been consolidated

shall be transferred to the custody of the governing body of the

consolidated school district. The records of an abolished school

district whose entire territory is annexed to another school

district shall be transferred to the custody of the governing

body of that school district. The commissioner of education shall

determine to which governing body custody of the records of an

abolished school district shall be transferred in those instances

in which the territory of the abolished district is divided among

two or more school districts.

(f) The cost of the transfer of records to the comptroller under

this section shall be paid for out of the funds of the abolished

local government. If funds of the local government are not

available for this purpose, the cost of the transfer shall be

paid out of the funds of the comptroller.

(g) The records retention schedules issued by the commission

shall be used, as far as practicable, as the basis for the

retention and disposition of local government records transferred

to the custody of the comptroller under this section.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 558, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.

Amended by:

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.

937, Sec. 1.99, eff. September 1, 2007.

Sec. 201.008. RECORDS OF ABOLISHED OFFICES OF COUNTY

SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS. (a) Records of an office of county

superintendent of schools or county superintendent of education

abolished under former Section 17.95, Education Code, before

September 1, 1989, that are still in the possession of a

custodian of county records or a county officer shall be

transferred to the custody of the commission by order of the

director and librarian.

(b) The director and librarian shall determine the time and

manner of the transfer of the records on a county-by-county

basis. The cost of the transfer shall be paid for out of funds of

the commission.

records has possession of the records of an abolished office of

the county superintendent of schools may petition the director

and librarian to allow the county to retain all or part of the

records and the director and librarian may grant the petition.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 6.70, eff. Sept. 1,

1997.

Sec. 201.009. ACCESS TO RECORDS. (a) Local government records

are subject to Chapter 552, Government Code.

(b) Any local government record to which public access is denied

under Chapter 552, Government Code, is, if still in existence,

open to public inspection 75 years after it was originally

created or received. However, a birth record maintained by a

local registrar is, if still in existence, open to public

inspection 100 years after it was originally created or received

and a death record maintained by a local registrar is, if still

in existence, open to public inspection 55 years after it was

originally created or received. This subsection does not limit

the authority of a governing body or an elected county officer to

establish retention periods for records under Section 203.042.

whose public disclosure is prohibited by an order of a court or

by another state law.

Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,

1989; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(90), eff. Sept. 1,

1995.

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

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