Hi all, I’m in a desperate situation. I need to obtain my Texas driving record, but I don’t have my Texas Driver License number and don’t know how to get it. Thanks for any info y’all have:

1. is there any way to get your Texas driving record without the DL #?

If not: 2) how do you get your Texas DL#? I love out of state and cannot go in person. Can you get it over the phone? If yes, who can you call?

Every state has its own set of laws that create a right of access to certain records of the state. While they all generally offer a presumption of access, the devil is in the details.

Things like:

• What is a public record?

• What records are exempt?

• How much can they charge?

• Is there a residency requirement?

• Do they have to mail you copies?

• What if they don't comply?

• Are there deadlines?

• Can you appeal?

If you want an overview of any particular state's access to public records law, this is a good starting point.

On the commonalities front, every state has exemptions from disclosure. Exemptions tend to be discretionary, meaning that the agency gets to decide whether use the exemption and withhold the information it protects.

Except in Texas.

Texas is weird when it comes to exemptions. And not just because they refer to them as "exceptions."

The weirdness:

A governmental body that receives a written request for information that it wishes to withhold from public disclosure and that it considers to be within one of the exceptions under Subchapter C must ask for a decision from the attorney general about whether the information is within that exception if there has not been a previous determination about whether the information falls within one of the exceptions.

If you think that sounds crazy, because it would mean that the Open Records Division of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) would have to evaluate and issue a written determination in response to tens of thousands of requests each year, you're right, At least about the number.

In 2021, the Open Records Division issued 36,906 open records letter rulings. Every one of them is linked on this page, which - fair warning - might hang your browser. And that's just 2021.

There are tight deadlines involved, and the process isn't limited to the agency and the AGO. When third party interests are implicated, they are often invited to participate. As for the requestor, they don't have to do anything, but they, too, have the option to weigh in. (By postal mail, hand delivery, or the AGO's new e-filing system only. The latter at the cost of $15 per submission.)

I have a decent track record against Texas governmental agencies before the AGO. The most memorable occasion involved the City of Burnet, who hired the law firm of Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, P.C. to handle my request for records associated with a plane crash. The city filed an initial request to withhold records with the AGO, and followed up with a lengthy supplemental brief. I responded by pointing out that they had each been filed one day late. The City of Burnet withdrew their request for a determination and released all of the records.

Coming back to the present, I am seeking footage of a tragic helicopter hoist rescue accident that occurred in 2015. I requested the records from Travis County / STAR Flight, and as I expected, Travis County asked the AGO for permission to withhold the records. In my expert opinion as a YouTuber, I think their legal arguments have no merit, but that alone wouldn't warrant a response. After all, if I'm right, the AGO can figure that out for themselves. You know, since they are the actual experts on legal things. But I had a concern: the County's arguments were rooted in their misunderstanding (and consequent misrepresentation to the AGO) of their obligations to the NTSB. I was concerned that if I didn't respond, the AGO would accept the County's misrepresentations as fact.

So I responded.

We'll see what happens this time around.