Texas · Public Information Act

The Texas Public Information Act, Attorney General rulings included

AccessPoint manages Public Information Act requests under Government Code Chapter 552 — prompt production, the 10-business-day certification, and the mandatory Attorney General decision to withhold — pre-configured for Texas and running inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

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Texas at a glance

Response standard
Promptly; certify in writing if not available within 10 business days (§ 552.221)
To withhold
Request an Attorney General decision within 10 business days (§ 552.301)
AG ruling
Issued generally within 45 working days (§ 552.306)
Charges
Attorney General cost rules — standard paper copy 10 cents per page
Oversight
Texas Attorney General, Open Records Division
Languages
English

Built for Texas

One platform for the whole access-and-privacy mandate, pre-configured for this regime and running in your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

PIA request lifecycle

Intake to release under the Public Information Act (Gov't Code ch. 552) — prompt production, the 10-business-day certification when records are not ready, and Attorney General referrals — all on Microsoft 365.

Attorney General decisions

To withhold, a governmental body must ask the Texas Attorney General for a decision within 10 business days. AccessPoint tracks the deadline, assembles the briefing, and manages the file to the ruling's 45-working-day answer.

The 10-business-day clock

Produce promptly, and when information cannot be produced within 10 business days, certify in writing the date and time it will be available — computed and reminded for you.

Exceptions and redaction

Apply the Subchapter C exceptions line by line — but only with the Attorney General ruling the Act requires — on a colour-coded, audit-trailed redaction record.

Cost-rule charges

Charge under the Attorney General's cost rules — a standard paper copy at 10 cents per page, labour and programming at the set rates — with an itemized estimate on request.

In your own tenant

Every request and record stays inside your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant — no third-party cloud, no cross-border transfers, and no per-user fees.

The Attorney General ruling

In Texas, you can't just withhold — you have to ask the Attorney General.

The Texas Public Information Act makes disclosure the default. A governmental body that wants to withhold information it believes is excepted — and that has no prior determination on point — must request an Attorney General decision within ten business days of the request and tell the requester it has done so. Miss that deadline and the information is presumed public. The Attorney General's Open Records Division then issues a ruling, generally within forty-five working days. AccessPoint tracks the ten-business-day trigger, assembles the request to the Attorney General, and manages the file to the ruling — so the one step that decides everything never slips.

10-business-day trigger The deadline to ask the Attorney General, tracked from intake.
Open Records ruling The Attorney General decision, managed to its 45-working-day answer.
Cost-rule charges Copies and labour billed under the Attorney General's cost rules.

Configured out of the box

Installing the us-tx-pia configuration pack seeds your tenant with everything this regime needs — a starting point you can adjust, not a lock-in.

Related guide: FOI Workflow Quick Check
  • The Texas Public Information Act (Gov't Code ch. 552) as the legal-authority and citation spine
  • The Texas state-holiday calendar and the 10-business-day certification due-date rules
  • Attorney-General decision requests — the 10-business-day trigger, briefing, and tracking to the ruling
  • The Subchapter C exceptions, colour-coded for redaction
  • Attorney General cost-rule charges, including the 10-cent-per-page standard copy and labour rates
  • Previous-determination records so settled exceptions skip the ruling
  • Texas timeliness tracking and the prompt-production standard
  • PIA correspondence templates with statutory wording

Texas Questions

When must a Texas governmental body respond to a request?
Information must be produced promptly. When it cannot be produced within 10 business days of the request, the officer for public information must certify that fact in writing to the requester and set a date and hour within a reasonable time when it will be available. AccessPoint computes the 10-business-day point and drafts the certification.

What makes Texas different — the Attorney General ruling?
Yes. To withhold excepted information without a prior determination, the governmental body must request an Attorney General decision within 10 business days and notify the requester; otherwise the information is presumed public. The Open Records Division then rules, generally within 45 working days. AccessPoint manages the trigger, the briefing, and the file through to the ruling.

What can a governmental body charge?
Charges follow the Attorney General's cost rules — a standard paper copy at 10 cents per page, plus labour and programming at the set rates; a requester may ask for an itemized estimate in advance. AccessPoint computes the charge to the cost rules and issues the estimate.

Where does data reside?
Entirely within your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant. Requests, documents, and audit history never leave your control — no third-party cloud, no vendor access, and no cross-border data transfers.

Run the Texas Public Information Act in One Platform

Try AccessPoint free for 30 days, pre-configured for Texas. No credit card required.

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