Hidalgo County must release public records on USB Drive
Attorney General Greg Abbott's office has issued a new ruling that constitutes a major open records victory for Texas. In essence, the County Clerk in South Texas' Hidalgo County has been told they "…must release public records on a USB Drive…," as requested. The ruling goes on to say the County cannot make an agreement with its vendor that effectively overrules or repeals the Open Records Act. Nor can the county adopt a security policy that requires disabling all USB ports on the clerk's computers, if that results in it being more expensive for a requestor to obtain public information. In other words, if the county does not have a working USB drive – they must buy one. According to General Abbott's ruling, "The County Clerk has failed to comply with section 552.268 of the Government Code" by refusing to provide the requested information on a USB drive while attempting to charge the requestor $89,624 for the same data, copied on CD's. AGs Opinion – Hidalgo County Hidalgo Co-AG Complaint
Posts
