Financial statements and related records must be publicly accessible, but home addresses and dependent-children names must be removed before public release.
Sec. 159.055. PUBLIC ACCESS TO STATEMENTS AND RELATED RECORDS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a financial statement filed under this subchapter or a document filed under Section 159.052(b) is a public record. The county clerk or the commission shall maintain the financial statements or documents in a manner that is accessible to the public during regular business hours. (b) The county clerk or the commission shall remove the officer's or candidate's home address and the names of the officer's or candidate's dependent children from the officer's or candidate's financial statement and any county or commission record derived from the financial statement before the statement or record is made available to a member of the public. (c) Until the first anniversary of the date a financial statement is filed, each time a person requests to see the financial statement, excluding the county clerk or an employee of the county clerk or the commission, acting on official business, the county clerk or the commission shall place in the file a statement of the person's name and address, whom the person represents, and the date of the request. The county clerk or the commission shall maintain that statement in the file until the first anniversary of the date the financial statement is filed. (d) After the second anniversary of the date a person ceases to be a county judicial officer, the county clerk or the commission may and on notification from the former officer shall destroy each financial statement filed by the officer. Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 763, Sec. 7, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1154, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by: Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 137 (H.B. 1872), Sec. 1, eff. May 23, 2019. Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 137 (H.B. 1872), Sec. 2, eff. May 23, 2019.