File a request the city has to answer
The Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov't Code ch. 552) gives you a right to the City of Houston's records. You do not have to say why you want them, and in Texas you do not have to be a resident. Build the letter below, send it, and start the clock.
The deadline
§ 552.301 — the body has ten (10) business days. Write the date you sent it on the letter. A missed deadline is only useful if you can prove when the clock started.
The fees
§ 552.2615. Ask for an estimate above $40.00 before anything is copied, and ask for electronic delivery — a PDF has no per-page charge to argue about.
If they say no
Texas has no free citizen appeal board. If the City wants to withhold, it must ask the Attorney General for a ruling within ten business days (§ 552.301) and send you a copy of what it asked — that request and the ruling are both public, and they are the best record of what a city tried to hide. If the City simply never answers, a complaint goes to the county or district attorney under § 552.3215, or you can sue for mandamus under § 552.321.
Build your letter
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere, stored, or seen by us — copy the result and send it yourself from your own email.
“All emails about the project” gets refused as overbroad and burns your deadline. “Emails between the City Manager and [named party] between 1 March and 30 April” gets answered. Once you see what came back, ask again with what you learned. Two narrow requests beat one that never gets filled.
Where to send it
Houston's own records channel is listed on the City Desk, with the exact URL the City publishes. Use it — a request filed through the body's own portal is the hardest one for it to say it never received.
Send a copy to [email protected] at the same time. We log the send date, watch the deadline, and if it lapses we publish that fact. A request nobody knows about is a request the city can ignore quietly.
Track the clock
§ 552.301 gives the City ten (10) business days. Put the send date in your calendar with that many days added, and put a second reminder a week later. Most requests are not denied — they are simply never answered, and the only thing that changes that is somebody noticing on the exact day.
If you are refused
Texas has no free citizen appeal board. If the City wants to withhold, it must ask the Attorney General for a ruling within ten business days (§ 552.301) and send you a copy of what it asked — that request and the ruling are both public, and they are the best record of what a city tried to hide. If the City simply never answers, a complaint goes to the county or district attorney under § 552.3215, or you can sue for mandamus under § 552.321.
Whatever the outcome, keep the exact wording of the denial and the date. A refusal that cites no statute, or cites one that does not apply, is itself the story — and it is the document an appeal turns on.