Travis Co. sues to prevent release of public records to FOX 7 Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza is suing the state's attorney general to prevent the release of public records after Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled they should be released.

The requested information is regarding the Travis County Commissioners approving $115,000 to be given to the Travis County District Attorney for security enhancements.

Attorney General Ken Paxton claims the Travis County Commissioners violated the state's open meetings laws.

Garza and Travis County Auditor Patti Smith argue that the information is exempt from disclosure under the Public Information Act.

They argue that the requested information is exempt under a physical safety exception, citing a portion of law that says "under the specific circumstances pertaining to the [governmental] employee or officer, disclosure of the information would subject the employee or office to a substantial threat of physical harm."

Garza and Smith are also claiming the records are exempt through the Texas Homeland Security Act that prevents records that identify details of vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to terrorism from being released.

On March 19, 2024, a vague item was listed on the commissioner’s agenda, "Receive briefing and take appropriate action regarding Travis County security and information security issues." After commissioners discussed the item in executive session, they voted publicly.

"I’d like to move to direct PBO to process a budget adjustment totaling $115,000 from the general fund allocation reserve as an automatic budget adjustment as discussed in an executive session," Travis County Precinct 3 Commissioner Ann Howard said during the March 19, 2024, meeting.

It passed unanimously.

FOX 7 submitted a public information request to the county for information about what the money being moved was for, what security enhancements are being funded, what threats were made that warranted the transfer of funds, and any evidence of such threats.

The assistant county attorney responded and said any responsive records must be withheld under the common law physical safety exception and Texas Homeland Security Act because, "release of any existing responsive information would subject an elected official to a substantial threat of physical harm."

The commissioners were sued by Paxton in September 2024 for violating the state's open meeting laws.

The commissioners again voted for the item in October.

The next day, Paxton ruled the information requested by Fox 7 should be released because the county failed to show why the information should be withheld.