a. Bodies receiving public funds or benefits.

The following bodies were found to be “governmental body” subject to the Act:

1. a community supervision and corrections department (limited to personnel files and other records reflecting the day-to-day management of such department) (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-646 (1996)).

2. the State Employee Charitable Campaign Policy Committee, the State Employee Charitable Campaign Advisory Committee, and the Local State Employee Charitable Campaign Committees (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. LO-94-064 (1994)).

3. a municipal economic development foundation and a municipal chamber of commerce (to the extent it receives support from the foundation) (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-621(1994)).

4. the sections of a museum that are supported by the city or the state (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-602 (1992)).

5. a public nonprofit housing finance corporation created by local government, where the corporation's funds by law are public funds and belong to the corporation's sponsoring local government (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-601 (1992)).

6. a nonprofit corporation established to administer federal job training partnership funds granted to the state (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-509 (1988)).

7. a nonprofit volunteer fire department (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM-821 (1987)).

8. a county child support department (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-417 (1984)).

9. the Texas Municipal League Workers' Compensation Joint Insurance Fund (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-406 (1984)).

10. a nonprofit industrial development corporation (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM-120 (1983)).

11. the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. MW-295 (1981); Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-563 (1990)).

12. a private, nonprofit corporation created to promote a metropolitan area's interests (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-228 (1979));

13. a city-county economic development corporation (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-201 (1978)).

14. a nonprofit community action organization supported in part by county funds (Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-195 (1978)).

15. a hospital authority created by a city ordinance (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. H-554 (1975)).

16. the Texas Water Advisory Council (Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. GA-0065 (2003)).

17. a pet shelter to which a county contractually delegated the administration of a pet registration program, including collection and retention of registration fees that would otherwise be payable to the county.  Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-4135 (2011).

The determination of whether an entity is a governmental body for purposes of the Act requires an analysis of the facts surrounding the entity. See Blankenship v. Brazos Higher Educ. Auth., Inc., 975 S.W.2d 353, 360-362 (Tex. App.-Waco 1998, pet. denied). The primary issue in determining whether certain private entities are governmental bodies under the Act is whether they spend or are “supported in whole or in part by public funds” under section 552.003(1)(A)(xii). See Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM-821 (1987).

In 1992, the Attorney General analyzed the similarly constructed predecessor provision of section 552.003(1)(A)(xii). Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-602 (1992). There, the Attorney General considered whether the definition of "governmental body" included the Dallas Museum of Art, a private nonprofit corporation that receives approximately 85 percent of its funding from membership fees and private donations. The museum also receives money from state agencies and the City of Dallas, which holds title to the land and buildings the museum occupies. A contract between the city and the museum requires that the city maintain and insure the buildings, pay the utility bills, and fund half the salaries and benefits paid to curators, conservators, security, and other specific personnel. The city holds title to art acquired before Sept. 12, 1984 and the museum holds title to all art acquired after that date. Considering the breadth of the "public funds" subsection of the "governmental body" definition, the decision emphasized that the Attorney General "has distinguished between private entities receiving public funds in return for specific, measurable services and entities receiving public funds as general support." Id. Although the Attorney General recognized that the city is "receiving valuable services in exchange for its obligations," the Attorney General advised that "the very nature of the services the [museum] provides to the city cannot be known, specific, or measurable." Id. Therefore, the Attorney General concluded that the city is providing the museum support and thus the museum is a governmental body "[t]o the extent that the DMA receives the city's support." Id. The Attorney General advised that museum "records related to those parts of the DMA's operation directly supported by the city, such as records regarding maintenance and ownership of the building and grounds, the city's art collection, utility bills, salaries of those employees for whom the city pays a portion, and insurance policies on which the city has paid part of the premium, are subject to the [open records] act." Id. However, the Attorney General advised that records related to areas of the museum not directly supported by the city are not subject to the Act, including documents related to an artwork collection donated in 1985. Id.; see also Tex. Att'y Gen. LA-6044 (2003) (payroll records of a subcontractor failed to satisfy the definition of public information where the records were not prepared as the agent of the governmental body, but instead done so in the performance of its own statutory duties under on a public works project, maintained pursuant to 2258.024 of the Texas Government Code. The Waco Court of Appeals found that the Brazos Higher Education Authority Inc., a nonprofit corporation that issues revenue bonds to purchase student loans, is not a governmental body under the Act because, in part, (1) it is not a deliberative body with rulemaking or quasi-judicial power; (2) was not created by a city; and (3) no funds of the State of Texas or the City of Waco are used to secure and pay off the revenue bonds. Blankenship v. Brazos Higher Educ. Auth., 975 S.W.2d 353, 359-60 (Tex. App.-Waco 1998, pet. denied); see also Keever v. Finlan, 988 S.W.2d 300, 305 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1999, pet. dism'd) (individual members of a school district board of trustees are not a governmental body; while governmental body includes school district board of trustees, trustee is not governmental body subject to Act); Kneeland v. National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n, 850 F.2d 224, 225-31 (5th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1042 (1989) (National Collegiate Athletic Association is not a “governmental body” because the funds received were not for general support, but rather were received in exchange for known, specific, and measurable services.); Tex. Att'y Gen. ORD-8197 (2010) (Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County not a “governmental body” because the public funds it receives are in exchange for specific and measurable services, and not for its general support).