City of Garland v. Dallas Morning News

In City of Garland v. Dallas Morning News, 22 S.W.3d 351, 359 (Tex. 2000), the Court held that a document was a final report under section 552.022, but the Court also recognized that exceptions in Subchapter C, such as the deliberative process privilege contained in section 552.111, could except a final report from disclosure. City of Garland, 22 S.W.3d at 359-60. In 1999, the Legislature amended section 552.022. That section of the Act now provides that the categories of public information it lists are "not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless they are expressly confidential under other law," meaning law other than Chapter 552 of the Government Code, which is the Public Information Act. TEX. GOV'T CODE 552.022(a). Since the litigation exception is found in Chapter 552 of the Government Code, that exception does not apply to the categories of information enumerated in section 552.022(a). Until 1999, the litigation and other exceptions set forth in Subchapter C of the Act applied to all information that otherwise would have to be disclosed, including the categories of information listed in section 552.022. The pre-1999 version of "section 552.022 emphasized that its categories did not limit the meaning of the Act's other sections."