In order to correct the abuses that undermine citizens' access to public information, Consumers Union recommends narrowing some of the Public Information Act's exceptions, creating a better process for identifying proposed new exceptions in other laws, strengthening the public's right of access, improving the Attorney General review process, notifying requesters of their rights, and enhancing civil enforcement.

• Amend the trade secret exception (§552.110) to state that the ease with which governmental bodies may obtain third-party information in the future is not a test for the "commercial or financial" prong.
  
  
• Incorporate judicial administrative records into the PIA.
  
  
• Amend the law enforcement exception (§552.108) to make closed case files available to the public if releasing the information would not interfere with the detection, investigation or prosecution of a crime.
  
  
• Exclude insurance companies from the financial institutions exception (§552.112).
  
  
• Limit the litigation exception (§552.103) to only those situations in which litigation is pending or reasonably anticipated on the date that the requester asks for records.

• To ensure adequate attention is given to proposed legislation that closes existing public records or creates new confidential records, require that a Legislative Open Government Impact Statement be included in committee reports of bills that will have any effect on public access to information.
  
  
• Mandate a study of existing exceptions to public disclosure codified outside the PIA. Require the study to take into account any public interest in the information, as well as government and private interests favoring confidentiality, and to recommend to the 77th Legislature in 2001 whether the information should remain confidential in the future.

• Clarify that the items listed in §552.022 ("Categories of Public Information; Examples")are not subject to the Act's exceptions. Section 552.022 of that subchapter lists numerous categories of information that are considered public under the Act, such as governmental policies and procedures, rules, amendments, orders, and various documents related to the expenditure of public funds.
  
  
• Allow the Attorney General to interpret whether documents fall under §552.022 of the PIA. Now, if a request for information appears to fall into one of these categories, the AG does not take this into account because the office is charged only with interpreting the Act's exceptions.

• Eliminate the AG's practice of "reconsidering" decisions at the request of governmental bodies.
  
  
• Shorten the period in which the AG must issue its opinions from 60 working days to 60 days, and shorten the extension from 20 working days to 20 days.
  
  
• Eliminate unnecessary delays in the AG opinion-writing process by clarifying that the seven-day period (§552.303(d)) is not to be used as an extension of the 15-working-day deadline established by the PIA for governmental bodies to submit all materials to the AG for review. If governmental bodies miss the deadline, the AG should not extend the submission period by seven days, but instead should rule the information public or make a determination based on information the governmental bodies timely sent.
  
  
• Streamline the process by amending §552.305 to require governmental bodies to notify third parties whose interests might be affected by a request for information before the end of the 15 business day period (the period during which they must send arguments and information to the AG). This will give third parties earlier notice and give the AG a completed file sooner.
  
  
• Require third parties that wish to mark information "confidential" to substantiate the claim in writing at the time the information is filed with a regulatory or other governmental body.

• Require all governmental bodies to post a notice of "The Public's Right to Government Information" to be drafted by the AG's Open Records Division. The notice should include a description of the AG opinion process, the AG's complaint process with a phone number for the hotline, and a description of the requesters legal right to file a mandamus suit or seek criminal sanctions. Require that the notice be prominently placed at any point where the public customarily interfaces with the governmental body and posted on its web site.
  
  
• Require that governmental officials who withhold information provide to the requester a copy of the "Public's Right to Government Information" at the time they deny access or refer the request to the AG for an opinion. The information can be contained in the letter typically sent to the requester.

• Incorporate open records compliance formally into the Sunset review process by expanding the "Across-the-Board Provisions" to require that:
  
  
  1. private companies that provide services or perform duties previously handled by state agencies comply with the PIA;
     
     
  2. state agencies create a records management system facilitating separation of confidential from public information;
     
     
  3. state agencies incorporate open records goals-and strategies to meet those goals-into the strategic planning process, including (a) appropriate data collection and reporting for the biennial General Services Commission report and (b) incorporation of records management plans developed through the Department of Information Resources strategic planning process, specifically emphasizing public access to information; and
     
     
  4. state agencies release audit working papers or draft audit reports related to investigations of the agency itself.

  
  
  

• Direct the Department of Information Resources, the Archives Commission and the Attorney General to jointly set standards for agency information processes.
  
  
• Direct the Department of Information Resources, the Archives Commission and the Attorney General to develop a standard for indexing information held by governmental bodies, and require all governmental bodies to use the indexing process.

• Either the DA in the county where the offence occurred, the Travis County DA, or the Attorney General should be authorized to pursue civil penalties against officials who violate provisions of the Act. Civil penalties, assessed on a per violation per day basis, should be paid from general operating funds and distributed to the State's general revenue fund.
  
  
• Require governmental bodies to pay for reasonable costs and attorney fees for mandamus suits filed by requesters if the requester substantially prevails (such an award is optional now).
  
  
• Waive the filing fee for a mandamus suit filed by a member of the public to enforce the PIA, or create a special state fund from civil penalties paid under the Act to cover such filing fees where requesters do not have the ability to pay.
  
  
• Appropriate funds to the Office of the Attorney General for enforcement of the PIA and the Open Meetings Act, and include an appropriations rider setting out performance goals that measure enforcement actions.
  
  
• Give the General Services Commission stronger enforcement authority over governmental bodies that overcharge the public for access to records, and provide the GSC with more resources to carry out its enforcement mandate. Cost recovery should not create a barrier to access.

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