How Public Records Work in Texas
How Public Records Work in Texas
Information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the current statute or rule and talk to a Texas attorney before you act.
Almost every lead list, tax roll and "distressed property" file in Texas starts as a government record. Knowing who keeps each record, which law opens it, and what is held back helps you judge any data you buy and ask the right office when you need something yourself.
Texas has no single public-records system. There are at least five, and each runs under different rules.
The five main record keepers
| Record keeper | What it holds | Main rule that opens it |
|---|---|---|
| Appraisal district (CAD), one per county | Owner name and mailing address, property address, legal description, values, exemptions, building details | Public Information Act (Gov't Code ch. 552), plus Tax Code limits |
| County tax assessor-collector (or a contracted collector) | Tax bills, payments, delinquent accounts, penalties and interest | Public Information Act |
| County clerk | Deeds, deeds of trust, releases, liens, abstracts of judgment, lis pendens, probate (in many counties), posted foreclosure notices | Local Government Code ch. 191 and related fee statutes; the PIA for clerk administrative records |
| District clerk and justice courts | Lawsuits: tax suits, foreclosure suits, divorces, civil judgments; justice courts handle evictions | Court records are open mainly under the common-law right of access, not the PIA |
| Cities | Code violations, permits, substandard-building cases, demolition orders | Public Information Act |
The Public Information Act (Government Code ch. 552)
The PIA covers state and local government bodies: appraisal districts, tax offices, cities and county offices acting in their administrative role. Its key rules:
- Anyone can ask, for any reason. The office may not ask why you want the records or how you will use them. It may ask about your identity and what the request means (§552.222).
- Every requester is treated the same. A business is not second-class (§552.223).
- Electronic copies. If the records already exist electronically and the office has the technology, it must give you an electronic copy on request (§552.228).
- Timing. Records must be produced "promptly." If that can't happen within 10 business days, the office must say so in writing and set a date (§552.221(d)). If it wants to withhold something, it has 10 business days to ask the Attorney General for a ruling (§552.301).
- Costs. Charges follow the Attorney General's rule (1 TAC §70.3): for example, $15 an hour for labor, $28.50 an hour for programming, and overhead of 20% of labor. An itemized estimate is required before charges over $40 (§552.2615), and if you don't answer it in writing within 10 business days, the request is treated as withdrawn.
- Free-time limits. An office may cap free staff time per requester, but not below 36 hours a year or 15 hours a month (§552.275).
- Custom programming. If your format needs programming, the office sends a written statement of format, cost and time (§552.231). You then decide.
What the PIA does not do
- No standing requests. An office does not have to send you new records "as they are created." Each request covers what exists on the day it arrives. This comes from Attorney General decisions going back to Opinion JM-48 (1983). If you want weekly data, you send a new request each week, or you use a file the office already posts.
- No new reports. The office does not have to create a record that doesn't exist, such as a custom report it has never run.
- Not the courts. The PIA's definition of a governmental body leaves out the judiciary.
Court records
Case files are open under the common-law right of access and the courts' own rules. You get them from the clerk, at the counter or through the clerk's online search, and you pay clerk fees. There is no PIA-style 10-day clock.
- Rule of Judicial Administration 12 covers only a court's administrative records. It says records filed in a case are not "judicial records" under that rule.
- Sensitive data is redacted by the filer under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21c: Social Security, driver's license and bank account numbers, and the birth date, home address and name of anyone who was a minor when the suit was filed.
- re:SearchTX, the statewide e-filing document site, lets registered members of the public view many filed documents for a per-page fee, under a Supreme Court order that also directs safeguards against bulk downloading and reselling without permission. Justice court cases, including most evictions, are not in it.
- Some case types are closed or should be handled carefully: juvenile records are confidential, protective-order addresses can be hidden by the court, and guardianship files often hold medical details.
Appraisal data and its limits
Appraisal districts publish a lot. Many large ones post bulk downloads of their rolls. But the Tax Code holds some things back:
- Confidential home addresses (Tax Code §25.025). Many groups of people, including peace officers, judges, prosecutors, and victims of family violence, sexual assault, stalking or trafficking, can ask the CAD to keep their home address confidential. Their records show up with the owner details withheld. Nobody should try to re-identify them from other sources.
- Online posting limits (§25.027). A CAD may not post online photos, sketches or floor plans of a residence, or information showing an owner's age.
- Renditions and owner-supplied information (§22.27). Rendition statements, income and expense data, and sales prices an owner gives the CAD under a promise of confidentiality are not open to public inspection.
- Sales prices. Texas does not require a sale price to be filed, and sale-price information a CAD gets from private sources is excepted from the PIA (Gov't Code §552.149). See why Texas is a non-disclosure state.
Things you can't get
- City utility shut-offs and balances. A government-run utility may not disclose a customer's address, phone number, usage or billing amounts unless the customer asks it to (Utilities Code §182.052). The Attorney General has ruled that even a list of addresses with water shut off must be withheld (Open Records Letter OR2022-17135).
- The national Do Not Call registry, except for compliance use by sellers and telemarketers.
Practical tips
- Look for the posted file first. Many CADs, tax offices, district clerks and cities post bulk or open-data files on a schedule. These are faster and cheaper than a PIA request.
- Write requests narrowly. Name the fields and the format. Agree to leave out confidential items if you don't need them; that can avoid a 45-business-day Attorney General ruling.
- Watch your inbox. Missing a cost-estimate deadline kills the request.
- Respect terms and robots rules on portals. Texas's computer-access law (Penal Code §33.02) makes access "without the effective consent of the owner" an offense, and it is more serious when the system is government-owned. Consent given for one purpose isn't effective for another (§33.01).
- Record the date of every pull. Public records change daily.
How this shows up in Agentix Data
Agentix Data pulls from posted public files every morning: appraisal-district owner records in eight counties, delinquent tax rolls in six, Harris County and other court filings, city code cases, and posted sale notices. Every record keeps its source and the date we first and last saw it. We leave out protective orders, juvenile, guardianship and custody cases, we don't re-identify owners with confidential addresses, and we don't carry utility shut-off data.
Sources
- Gov't Code ch. 552 (Public Information Act): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.552.htm
- §552.222 (no asking why): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.222
- §552.223 (uniform treatment): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.223
- §552.228 (electronic copies): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.228
- §552.221 (prompt production): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.221
- §552.231 (programming statement): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.231
- §552.2615 (itemized estimate): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.2615
- §552.275 (free-time limits): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.275
- §552.149 (sales price information): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._gov't_code_section_552.149
- 1 TAC §70.3 (PIA charges): https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/1-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-70-3
- Attorney General letter ruling citing JM-48 and ORD 465/476 (no standing requests): https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/openrecords/50abbott/orl/2011/htm/or201103721.htm
- Rule of Judicial Administration 12: https://www.txcourts.gov/media/524153/rjac-rule-12.pdf
- Tex. R. Civ. P. 21c (sensitive data): https://www.courtrules.net/texas/texas-civil-procedure/rule-21c
- Supreme Court Misc. Docket No. 18-9132 (re:SearchTX public access): https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1442449/189132.pdf
- Tax Code §25.025: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_25.025
- Tax Code §25.027: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_25.027
- Tax Code §22.27: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_22.27
- Utilities Code §182.052: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._util._code_section_182.052
- Attorney General OR2022-17135: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/openrecords/51paxton/orl/2022/pdf/or202217135.pdf
- Penal Code §33.01 and §33.02: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._penal_code_section_33.01 , https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._penal_code_section_33.02
General information, not legal or financial advice.