Public Information Request Processing Affected By Severe Weather Event In City Of Austin

Press release from the City of Austin:

February 8, 2022

Processing delayed due to freezing temperatures and freezing rain suspending normal City operations on Feb. 3-4.

The City of Austin has submitted a catastrophe notice to the Texas Office of the Attorney General to suspend certain deadlines under the Texas Public Information Act for seven calendar days. This notice and the suspension will allow City departments involved in the response to last week's winter weather to have time to respond to Public Information Requests (PIR) received during that time.

The City submitted the notice on February 7, 2022, in accordance with section 552.233 of the Texas Government Code. This provision authorizes a governmental body to suspend the applicability of the requirements of the Public Information Act if the governmental body is affected by a catastrophe. This notice will expire on February 13, 2022.

Any pending public information requests that have been received will be paused for seven calendar days and new public information requests that are received over the next seven calendar days will be deemed received on February 14, 2022.

Departments whose operations were not affected by the winter weather should continue to respond to public information requests under normal procedures.

These notice provisions were passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019 in response to Hurricane Harvey. The City of Austin will post a notice of this delay on AustinTexas.gov/PIR and will inform requestors with pending requests.

This press release was produced by the City of Austin. The views expressed here are the author’s own.