Opinion ID: 2435994
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: is the district attorney excluded from the open records act?

Text: General Morales relies on Etheridge v. State, 903 S.W.2d 1 (Tex.Crim.App.1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 116 S.Ct. 314, 133 L.Ed.2d 217 (1995), asserting that a district attorney is a government body within the meaning of the Open Records Act. Additionally, he argues that the Legislature created the Harris County District Attorney's Office and section 43.180 of the Texas Government Code defines its powers. Holmes argues that district attorneys are within the judiciary department of state government. He premises his argument on the basis that because Article V of the Texas Constitution is entitled the judicial department, and because § 21 mentions district attorneys, the Harris County district attorney is a member of the judiciary. Holmes implies that the word judiciary, as used in section 552.003(b) and the term judicial department at the head of Article V of the Texas Constitution are synonymous. The Open Records Act's core provision provides that the public is entitled to information collected, assembled, or maintained by a governmental body. TEX. GOV'T CODE § 552.021. A governmental body includes an office that is within or is created by the executive or legislative branch of state government and that is directed by one or more elected or appointed members. See TEX. GOV'T CODE § 552.003(a)(1). However, section 552.003(b) states that governmental body does not include the judiciary. See TEX. GOV'T CODE § 552.003(b). We reject Holmes' theory that judicial department and judiciary are synonymous. The court of appeals correctly concluded that the district attorney's office is not included in the meaning of judiciary because the Texas Constitution invests no judicial power in that office. 906 S.W.2d at 573. Rather, section 1, Article V specifically vests the judicial power in the courts. TEX. CONST. art. V, § 1. Article V, section 1 provides: The judicial power of this State shall be vested in one Supreme Court, in one Court of Criminal Appeals, in Courts of Appeals, in District Courts, in County Courts, in Commissioners Courts, in Courts of Justices of the Peace and in such other courts as may be provided by law. TEX. CONST. art. V, § 1. Judicial power, embraces powers to hear facts, to decide issues of fact made by pleadings, to decide questions of law involved, to render and enter judgment on facts in accordance with law as determined by the court, and to execute judgment or sentence. Kelley v. State, 676 S.W.2d 104 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Black v. Dallas County Bail Bond Bd., 882 S.W.2d 434 (Tex.App.Dallas 1994, no writ). The Harris County District Attorney does not perform these functions. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the Legislature intended to include the district attorney's office in the word judiciary. Moreover, article V, section 21 states that a district attorney's duties shall ... be regulated by the Legislature. TEX. CONST. art. V, § 21. Accordingly, we affirm the court of appeals' holding that the Harris County District Attorney's office is a governmental body within the meaning of the Open Records Act and is, therefore, subject to its provisions.