December 6, 2005, Tonia J. Wood, Archivist
Agency contact
Contact: Paula Harris
Manager, Reprographics and Records
PO Box 12548
Austin TX 78711-2548
512-936-1742
fax: 512-469-3124
paula.harris@oag.state.tx.us
Record Series Review
Series Title: News or press releases
Obsolete record series? No
Replaced by:
Ongoing record series? Yes
Annual accumulation: approx. 240 releases
Agency holdings:
Covers the terms of Morales through Abbott. For Abbot, releases are
in electronic format, from December 2, 2002 to current day's releases.
For Cornyn, releases are in electronic format from January 8, 1999 to
November 27, 2002. Morales' releases are in paper format, date range
and size haven't been given-possibly from January 1991 to January 1999.
Description:
Records are news releases prepared by the Office of the Attorney General's
Communications Director and staff, dating 1990s to present. Subjects
include litigation and settlements (including tobacco, Ruiz, and insurance),
child support enforcement, child custody education, paternity establishment,
crime victim assistance, consumer protection, immigration fraud, Medicaid
fraud, executions, sex offender and child predator investigation, hurricane/storm
victim services, open government, identity theft, Internet, antitrust,
staff achievements, patients' rights, price gouging, insurance, Enron,
nursing home investigations, redistricting, gaming/gambling, colonias,
water rights, and drug enforcement.
Cornyn's electronic releases are in html format; Abbot's electronic
releases are in php. Electronic releases include imbedded images, video,
and links to documents; formats include pdf, jpeg, wmv (Microsoft version
of video encoding technology).
Purpose:
News releases are prepared to provide the public with information about
the activities of the Attorney General and Attorney General's Office.
Agency Program:
The Attorney General is the lawyer for the people of Texas (elected
by the people to a four-year term) and is charged by the Texas Constitution
(Article IV, sections 1 and 22) to:
- defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas
- represent the State in litigation
- approve public bond issues
To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General
serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government,
issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state
agencies and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes,
sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions, and
defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies
and individual employees of the State.
The Office of the Attorney General has taken on numerous other roles
through the years. Texas statutes contain nearly 2000 references to
the Attorney General. In addition to its constitutionally prescribed
duties, the Office of the Attorney General files civil suits upon referral
by other state agencies. In some circumstances, the Attorney General
has original jurisdiction to prosecute violations of the law, but in
most cases, criminal prosecutions by the Attorney General are initiated
only upon the request of a local prosecutor.
Although the Attorney General is prohibited from offering legal advice
or representing private individuals, he serves and protects the rights
of all citizens of Texas through the activities of the various divisions
of the agencies. Actions that benefit all citizens of this state include
enforcement of health, safety and consumer regulations; educational
outreach programs and protection of the rights of the elderly and disabled.
The Attorney General is also charged with the collection of court-ordered
child support and the administration of the Crime Victims' Compensation
Fund.
Arrangement: Arranged online in reverse chronological order.
Access Constraints: None.
Use Constraints: Some links within older releases are broken.
Indexes or finding aids required for/or an aid to access? No
Problems: Broken links, and potential for more broken links.
Known related records in other agencies: None.
Previous destructions: None known.
Publications based on records: None
Internet pages based on records: Abbott: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/
Cornyn: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/newsarchive/index.html
Series data from agency schedule:
Title: News or press releases
Series item number: 1.1.019
Agency item number: 36
Archival code: R
Retention: 2
Texas Documents Collection holdings: None.
Archival holdings:
The Archives has some records for Attorney General Mark White, including
press releases mixed with other materials. The Commission's Sam Houston
Library & Research Center has the records of Attorney General Price
Daniel, including press releases mixed with other materials.
Gaps? News releases for Jim Mattox and earlier Attorneys General
Appraisal Decision:
News releases are archival because they summarize the activities and
accomplishments of the Attorney-General's Office. The news releases
can also be used as a starting point for in-depth research. The Texas
State Archives does not accept electronic records at this time. The
Attorney-General's Office will need to maintain the electronic format
news releases for Abbott and Cornyn, paying attention to keeping imbedded
images, video, and links active. If the OAG decides not to maintain
the releases electronically, then the releases and linked material will
need to be printed out on acid-free paper and can be transferred to
the State Archives. Video and audio files or entire websites that cannot
be readily printed can be omitted. The Attorney General's prepared remarks
at press conferences (the most common video footage) should be present
in another archival series-Speeches. The Morales' news releases, in
paper format, should be transferred to the State Archives now. If news
releases are located for earlier attorneys general, those should be
transferred as well.
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