Public Information Act - Texas Tech University

Exceptions to Disclosure
confidential nor are they considered “other law” for the purpose of section 552.022 of the
Government Code. Therefore, neither section 552.107 nor section 552.111 may be used to withhold
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information subject to section 552.022. Nevertheless, the attorney-client privilege and the work
product privilege are also found in the Texas Rules of Evidence and the Texas Rules of Civil
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Procedure respectively. A governmental body claiming the attorney-client privilege for a
document that is subject to section 552.022 of the Government Code should raise Texas Rule of
Evidence 503, not section 552.107 of the Government Code, in order to withhold the information. 301
If the governmental body demonstrates that Rule 503 applies to part of a communication, generally
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the entire communication will be protected. However, a fee bill is not excepted in its entirety if
a governmental body demonstrates that a portion of the fee bill contains or consists of an attorneyclient
communication. Rather, information in an attorney fee bill may only be withheld to the
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extent the particular information in the fee bill is demonstrated to be subject to the attorney-client
privilege. 304
Similarly, a governmental body claiming the work product privilege for a document that is subject
to section 552.022 of the Government Code should raise Rule 192.5 of the Texas Rules of Civil
Procedure, not section 552.111 of the Government Code, in order to withhold the information. 305
Moreover, information is confidential for the purpose of section 552.022 under Rule 192.5 only to
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the extent the information implicates the core work product aspect of the privilege. Other work
product is discoverable under some circumstances and therefore is not considered to be confidential
for the purpose of section 552.022. 307
b. Court Order
Section 552.022(b) prohibits a court in this state from ordering a governmental body to withhold
from public disclosure information in the section 552.022 categories unless the information is
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confidential under this chapter or other law. Thus, although section 552.107(2) of the Act excepts
from disclosure information that a court has ordered to be kept confidential, section 552.022
effectively limits the applicability of that subsection and the authority of a court to order
confidentiality. 309
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Open Records Decision Nos. 677 at 8 (2002), 676 at 5 (2002); see In re City of Georgetown, 53 S.W.3d at
331.
See TEX. R. EVID. 503; TEX. R. CIV. P. 192.5.
Open Records Decision No. 676 at 6 (2002).
See Huie v. DeShazo, 922 S.W.2d 920, 923 (Tex. 1996) (privilege extends to entire communication, including
facts contained therein); In re Valero Energy Corp., 973 S.W.2d 453, 457 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.]
1998, no pet.) (privilege attaches to complete communication, including factual information).
Open Records Decision No. 676 at 5 (2002).
Id. at 5–6.
Open Records Decision No. 677 at 9 (2002).
Id. at 10.
Id. at 9–10.
Act of May 30, 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 602, § 2 (to be codified as amendment to Gov't Code § 552.022).
See Ford v. City of Huntsville, 242 F.3d 235, 241 (5th Cir. 2001).
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