A person has sent a request for certain records to the clerk's office, the sheriff's officer, and my office (District Attorney). He wants information concerning names of bail bondsman, proof of sufficiency of the security, value of property, sums posted for each of these persons, amount of default for each bondsman and so forth specifically that status of each question as of Novemeber 10, 2005.

We are a three man office and I just drew the short straw. I understand the AG's office has information but i have been unable to reach any live individuals. I dont think we have any of the information he wants, at least not in any one place.

Any suggestions as to how i should procced, I guess I need advise on how to help the sheriif and the clerks office as well because I know they have no idea how to respond either.

Thanks for any input.

Chris, the AG Number for Open Records Division is 512-936-6736. The chief is Katherine Cary.

You only have to release material you already possess. You don't have to dig up data to create records that don't exist. However, if the data is stored in different locations, then you have to gather it all up.

You can always elect to release data at your own level. If you want to withhold data, you have to send the request to withhold to Ausin. Therefore, is usually saves a lot of work to just release it, unless you can justify a reason not to do so.

The index at the back of the AG's 2004 Public Information Handbook is a good place to start.

Thanks for the quick answer, digging up information concerning bondsman did not seem exciting

Counties without bail bond boards (and perhaps those with) are unlikely to keep very much of the information requested in the form requested. While such statistical info might be possible to formulate, you (nor the sheriff) are not required to assemble it. "[C]hapter 552 of the Government Code does not require you to release information that did not exist when [the governmental body] received the request or to create responsive information. See Economic Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983)."
Tex. Atty. Gen. Op. OR2004-1451