Case Information
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OR?*'EY GENERAL FTF,XAS
ArmTIN. TICXAR 78711 October 19, 1972 Honorable Joe Resweber Opinion No.M-1240 County Attorney Re: Whether vehicle
Harris County Courthouse re- Houston, Texas 77002 ceipts are public to
be kept by the County Tax Assessor-Collector, and re- Dear Mr. Resweber: lated questions.
In your recent opinion request, accompanied by an able brief, you asked two questions regarding the duties the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector in the handling and disposition copies of vehicle issued by that office. Specifi- cally you asked:
"1 . Is the County Tax Office required to keep these records, and if so, for what length time?
"2 . If these are not required, but maintained for auditing purposes only, are they and tax office re- quired to furnish by telephone to per- sons seeking the ownership of automobiles?"
In the case of Noqueria v. State, 59 S.W.2d 831 (Tex. Crim. 1933), the court cites many definitions "record" and "public record", including following:
"'Record,' in its broadest sense is a memo- randum public or private, of what has been done, ordinarily applied to public only, in which sense it is a written memorial made by a officer."
11 . . the term 'record' is ordinarily ap- plied to public only, in which sense a is a written memorial made by a public official authorized by law to perform function and intended to serve as something written, said, or done."
The county tax assessor is a public official, elected under the authority of the Texas Constitution, Article VIII, Sections 14 and 16, by the people of his county. He is authorized to collect fees for and to issue vehicle under Articles 6675a-2, et seq.? Vernon’s Civil Statutes. Each copy of a vehicle receipt he makes is “a written memorial made by a public official authorized by law to perform that function .”
Harris County, like many counties crowded for space, has most of its public on microfilm. Article 6574b Vernon’s Civil Statutes, provides for the photographic duplica- tion of public and the destruction the records. Section 4 of Article 6574b reads:
“Sec. 4. Said photographic duplicates of all public shall be placed in conveniently acces- sible files and provisions shall be made for pre- serving safekeeping, using, examining, exhibiting, projecting and enlarging the same whenever requested during regular hours. Whenever photographic duplicates of public are so made, certified and placed, the original public records may be, by order the Commissioners Court of the county, or the governing body of any political subdivision of Texas, destroyed or otherwise disposed of, pro- vided, however, that no original record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of unless or until time for filing legal proceedings based on any such record shall have elapsed, and, in no event, shall any original record be destroyed or otherwise disposed of until said public is at least (5) years old; and provided further, that notice of such proposed destruction or dis- position of original are, in his opinion, needed for the Texas State Library, they shall be transferred thereto in the manner provided in Article 5439, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925.”
Attorney General’s Opinion W-793 (1960) has interpreted Section 4 as follows:
“It therefore the opinion this De- partment the provision in Article 6574b that no original records may be destroyed until the ‘time filing legal proceedings based on *3 (M- 1240)
any such record shall have elapsed’ is not con- trolling in relation to this statute and that original records, other than any deed record, deed of trust record, mechanic’s lien or any minute book of any court, or any minute book of any political subdivision of Texas , may be destroyed according to Article 6574b! when the following conditions have been complied with: (1) when in the judgment of the Commissioners’ Court or other governing bodies a necessity exists; (2) when the records have been properly duplicated in a manner set out in said statute; (3) when said public are (5) years old; and (4) when notice of said destruction is given the State Librarian, and if such records are, in his opinion, not needed the Texas State Library.” Thus the length of time tax office must keep the motor vehicle fives (5) years.
Question two considers the furnishing of by telephone to persons seeking the ownership of automobiles. The leading Casey repo~rted in Texas upon the subject of the rights the citizens of a state to inspect the records the state or county is Palacios, et al. v. Corbett, et al., 172 S.W. 777 (Tex.Civ.App.Ie San Antonio of Appeals applied the common law upon this subject as Court the law in Texas (Art. 1, V.C.S.). This case has been followed by this in Attorney General’s Opinions O-854 (1939), O-2044 (194,0), and O-3591 (1941), which last opinion reads in part as follows:
11 . . if the reports or records are not confidential, but on the other hand are of a nature, private citizens or their duly appointed representatives have a right to in- spect such of the records as they have an interest in. This right, of course, is subject to limita- tion imposed by the Legislature in enacting the subject laws. We do have instances in which Legislature has specifically limited the authority to examine or copy required individuals, partnerships, or corporations, such as the records the Texas Unemployment Compensation Commission.”
In examining the statutes pertaining to motor vehicle we find no provision making these records con- receipts, fidential or protecting them from examination or observation by We do find in Article 6574b, Sec. 4, that interested persons. examination of photographic duplicates of all public "shall be . . . whenever requested during regular office hours . . It and as we have held in the above cited opinions, examina- tions must be made at reasonable hours and without interfering in the normal operation the office.
We find no authority requiring or empowering tax office to give any information over the telephone to anyone calling and requesting information on the ownership of automobiles. It would appear, however, this could be given at the discretion the tax office as a matter of courtesy to the public.
SUMMARY The county tax office's motor vehicle receipt are public and must be pre- served years under the law. These may be examined at the tax office during reasonable hours or regular hours by interested per- sons. Information from these requested by telephone can be given at the discretion the tax office as a matter of courtesy to the public but tax office is not required to provide this service.
Ve truly yours, Prepared by Linda Neeley
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE *5 ,
Kerns Taylor, Chairman
W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
Ben Harrison
Jim Swearingen
Austin Bray
James Hackney
SAMUEL D. MCDANIEL
Staff Legal Assistant
ALFRED WALKER
Executive Assistant
NOLA WHITE
First Assistant