The Texas Public Information Act gives you the right to access government records, and the public information officer may not ask why you want them. All government information is presumed to be available to the public, with certain exceptions. Request public records online.

Copy Rates

Governmental bodies shall release requested information as promptly as possible, unless the information is exempt from disclosure under the Public Information Act. The City of Austin uses the rates established by the Office of the Attorney General to determine charges for copies of public records. At the discretion of the staff member responding to a request, fees may be waived when there are a minimal number of responsive documents.

Requests Exceeding $40

If the cost of a request is expected to exceed $40, a staff member will send an estimate letter to the requestor. The letter will include an itemized statement of any copying, personnel or mailing charges that will be incurred in fulfilling the request. Once the requestor confirms that he or she agrees to the estimated costs, a staff member will begin compiling the records. If a requestor does not respond within 10 days, the file will be closed.

Common Charges

  • Paper (single-sided, black and white, standard size) - $0.10 / page
  • Oversize paper, not including maps and photographs - $0.50 / page
  • CD - $1 each
  • Diskette - $1 each
  • Audio cassette - $1 each
  • VHS cassette - $2.50 each
  • DVD - $3 each
  • Off site record retrieval - $45.00 fee 

Labor Charges

  • Personnel time for locating, compiling and reproducing records (if less than 50 pages of paper copies are requested, no personnel costs are charged) - $15 / hour
  • Computer Programming - $28.50 / hour
  • Overhead - 20% of the personnel or programming charge

Additional Resources

Austin City Council Closed-Caption Transcripts

The Austin City Connection offers Closed Caption logs of Thursday Council sessions aired on the City's municipal cable TV access channel (Channel 6).  Council transcriptscan be found on meeting information pages:

Public Information Requests

All government information is presumed to be available to the public, although certain exceptions may apply. You may request public records online by clicking here, or you may email your request to public.information@austintexas.gov. Please note, pursuant to section 552.301(c) of the Government Code, the City of Austin has designated public.information@austintexas.gov as the email address for public information requests sent by electronic mail. A request sent by email will not be considered received unless sent to the designated email address.

Data Portal

The data portal is your open government resource. The data portal's benefits include: transparency, user-friendly data presentation and opportunities for community app development.