Texas Local Government Code 351.258 – Meetings and Records; Confidentiality
Current as of: 2024 | Check for updates
|
Other versions
(a) A response team meeting is not subject to Chapter 551, Government Code.
(b) This section does not prohibit a response team from requesting or allowing the attendance of a person who is not a response team member at a response team meeting.
Terms Used In Texas Local Government Code 351.258
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Signed: includes any symbol executed or adopted by a person with present intention to authenticate a writing. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) Information and records acquired by a response team in the exercise of its purpose and duties under this subchapter are confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may only be disclosed as necessary to implement the response team’s purpose and duties.
(d) A report or a statistical compilation of data reports created by the response team is public information subject to Chapter 552, Government Code, provided the report or compilation does not contain any personally identifiable information.
(e) Information, documents, and records of the response team that are confidential under this section are not subject to subpoena or discovery and may not be introduced into evidence in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding, except that information, documents, and records otherwise available from other sources are not immune from subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence solely because that information or those documents or records were presented during a response team meeting or maintained by the response team.
(f) A response team may only review a sexual assault case of an adult survivor with the signed, written consent of the survivor. The consent must specify:
(1) the information or records covered by the release;
(2) the reason or purpose for the release; and
(3) the person or agency to which the information is to be released.