Texas Governor George W. Bush:

An Inventory of Governor George W. Bush General Counsel Litigation Files Located at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, 1859, 1880s, 1896, 1905, 1924, 1940s, 1955, 1968-2000, bulk 1995-2000

Agency History

The governor of Texas is the chief executive officer of the state, elected by the citizens every four years. The duties and responsibilities of the governor include serving as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces; convening special sessions of the legislature for specific purposes; delivering to the legislature at the beginning of each regular session a report on the condition of the state, an accounting of all public money under the governor's control, a recommended biennial budget, an estimate of the amounts of money required to be raised by taxation, and any recommendations he deems necessary; signing or vetoing bills passed by the legislature; and executing the laws of the state. The governor can grant reprieves and commutations of punishment and pardons, upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and revoke conditional pardons. He appoints numerous public officials (with the consent of the Senate), fills vacancies in state and district offices (except vacancies in the legislature), calls special elections to fill vacancies in the legislature, fills vacancies in the United States Senate until an election can be held, and serves as ex officio member of several state boards.

The office of governor was first established by the Constitution of 1845 and superseded the office of president of the Republic of Texas. The position now exists under authority of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of 1876 and Texas Government Code, Chapter 401. To be elected governor, a person must be at least thirty years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of Texas for at least five years preceding the election. In 1972, the term of office was extended from two to four years, effective in 1975. Since 1856 the governor has had the use of the Governor's Mansion.

In 1999 there were 198 full time equivalent employees in the Office of the Governor. Thirteen divisions outside of the Executive Office assist the governor in carrying out his functions: Administration, Appointments, Budget and Planning, Communications, General Counsel, Legislative, Policy, Scheduling, Criminal Justice Division, Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, Office of Film, Music, Television and Multimedia Industries, Women's Commission, and Texas Council on Workforce and Economic Competitiveness.

The General Counsel position within the Texas Office of the Governor was created in October 1973 when the Executive Director of the Governor's Criminal Justice Division appointed an individual as General Counsel, to assist him in providing statute interpretations and in other matters relating to policies and procedures. Today the Office of the General Counsel is a separate division in the Governor's Office. During the Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales served as General Counsel, succeeded in 1998 by Margaret Wilson.

Duties of the General Counsel include providing statute interpretations; tracking inmates on death row as their cases move through the judicial process, including all appeals to the governor for commutations or stays of execution; handling pardon requests sent to the governor; reviewing proposed settlements, land patents, grant requests, contracts, easements, and deeds for the governor; analyzing proposed legislation and regulations for validity and legal effect; assisting appointments staff in determining eligibility and other legal issues related to proposed appointments; handling extradition and requisition matters; coordinating ethics guidelines and training for the governor's office; advising the governor on federal programs administered by the state; coordinating the governor's criminal justice policy with the governor's Policy Director; and providing legal advice and handling litigation filed against the governor or the Governor's Office, in conjunction with actions of the Attorney General on the governor's behalf.

(Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 9th and 10th eds., (1996 and 1999); the contents of the records; and versions of the Governor's Office web site during Governor Bush's term available on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.governor.state.tx.us, accessed on March 3, 2009.)

George W. Bush Biographical Sketch

George W. Bush served as governor of Texas from January 17, 1995 to December 21, 2000, resigning as governor in the middle of his second term to become president of the United States.

He challenged the incumbent governor, Democrat Ann Richards, running on promises to improve public education and to reform the juvenile justice system, welfare, and the state's tort laws -- the system under which an injured person may sue for damages. During the 74th Legislature in 1995, he worked with the Democrats who controlled both houses of the Texas legislature and managed to get bills passed that dealt with the four issues he had emphasized in his campaign. Bush was seen as pro-business and a consensus-builder.

Bush advocated and signed the two largest tax cuts to date in Texas history, totaling over $3 billion. To pay for the cuts, he sought (unsuccessfully) federal approval of a plan to privatize Texas' social services. Education reform was a priority throughout his terms, with legislation emphasizing local control of schools, higher standards, and a revised curriculum. Controversy has followed, with charter schools mired in financial scandals and protests against one test determining a child's promotion. After winning reelection in 1998, Bush began his bid for the presidency and was not as involved in the 76th Legislature in 1999.

George W. Bush was born July 6, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He graduated from Andover Academy, and received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a master's from Harvard Business School. He served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. In 1978, Bush was defeated in a run for the U.S. Congress in West Texas. He was involved in energy exploration from the 1970s into the 1980s. From 1989 until his election as governor, Bush worked with the Texas Rangers baseball organization, leading a group of partners in purchasing the team, and then serving as managing general partner. He married Laura Welch in 1977; they have two daughters.

(Sources include: Versions of the Governor's Office web site during Governor Bush's term available on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.governor.state.tx.us, accessed on March 3, 2009.)

Scope and Contents of the Records

The Texas governor's general counsel provides legal advice and handles litigation filed against the governor or the Governor's Office, in conjunction with actions of the Attorney General on the governor's behalf. Records are litigation files maintained by the Governor's Office of the General Counsel for cases completed during Governor George W. Bush's tenure. Types of materials include correspondence, memoranda, court filings (briefs, orders, motions, etc.), proposed and final settlement agreements, press releases, news clippings, attorney notes, affidavits, deposition transcripts, research materials, exhibits, reports, printed material, maps, analyses, videocassettes, audiocassettes, and computer disks, dating 1859, 1880s, 1896, 1905, 1924, 1940s, 1955, 1968-2000, bulk 1995-2000. Subjects of litigation include the tobacco settlement and resulting attorney fees, redistricting, election and appointment of officials, termination of Criminal Justice Division personnel, cost allocation of federal funds, discrimination in education (equality of financing between black state universities and other state universities). A few smaller litigation files cover free speech, illegal immigration, and open records. The files also include amicus briefs filed by the Governor's Office and/or State of Texas in cases concerning school prayer, faith-based programs in prisons, abortion, appointments, and endangered species.

The tobacco litigation file largely pertains to the intervention of Governor Bush, several legislators, and other interested parties in the state's lawsuit against several tobacco companies in order to reduce the attorney fees the state was to pay to private legal counsel used during the case. In addition, there is some information about the tobacco litigation case that the State of Texas filed against several tobacco companies and there are documents concerning the national lawsuit the federal government was attempting to file because it wanted some of the money gained by various successful states' lawsuits to pay for Medicaid costs.

Two cases concern racial discrimination in higher education-- Benjamin v. Bush and Robinson v. Bush. They stem from the proposed distribution of tobacco settlement funds to medical schools and other institutions, while excluding historically black universities.

The litigation files include two redistricting cases. Plaintiffs alleged racial gerrymandering in Texas House and Senate districts in Thomas v. Bush while Vera v. Bush concerned gerrymandering in three Congressional districts. Thomas v. Bush was settled after the U.S. Supreme Court reached a decision in Vera v. Bush.

Cases relating to the scope of the Governor's appointment powers include Luna v. Richards and Angelini v. Hardberger. Luna v. Richards covers whether the governor is required to commission a branch pilot after the pilot receives certification from the Board of Pilot Commissioners. Angelini v. Hardberger concerns the effective date of a resignation and the governor's ability to appoint a replacement before an election. The necessity of the federal Department of Justice to preclear changes to election law under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is challenged in State of Texas v. U.S.A. (94-465) and State of Texas v. U.S.A. (94-1529). The first concerns the creation and makeup of the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the second concerns the creation of judgeships to relieve court overcrowding in Texas.

Two cases (Curbo and Funderburgh vs. State of Texas and McDaniel vs. State of Texas) concern the termination of employees from the Criminal Justice Division (CJD) of the Texas Governor's Office. McDaniel was head of the Texas Crime Stoppers Program who looked into claims that CJD employees Curbo and Funderburgh were improperly terminated; McDaniel was later fired. She filed a suit claiming her termination was due to being a whistleblower. The two cases were settled at the same time.

State of Texas v. United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) grew out of a dispute over whether Texas needed to return money to the DHHS under cost allocation rules after Texas higher education employees were added to the state's Uniform Group Insurance Plan (UGIP). The case was heard by a DHHS appeals board before the U.S. District Court ruled in the State's favor that no money needed to be returned.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including, but not limited to, privacy (Texas Government Code, Section 552.101), correspondence between legislators and citizens/residents of Texas (§552.101 in conjunction with §306.003(a) and 306.004(c)), tax returns (§552.101 in conjunction with 26 U.S.C. 6103(b)), certain legislative documents (§552.106), attorney client privilege (§552.107), agency memoranda (§552.111), audit working papers (§552.116), home address, home phone number, social security number, and personal family information of a government employee (§552.117), home address, home phone number, social security number, and personal family information of a peace officer (§552.1175), drivers license numbers (§552.130), account numbers (§552.136), email addresses (§552.137), and social security numbers (§552.147), an archivist must review these records before they can be accessed for research. The records may be requested for research under the provisions of the Public Information Act (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Chapter 552). The researcher may request an interview with an archivist or submit a request by mail (Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P. O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711), fax (512-463-5436), email (Dir_Lib@tsl.state.tx.us), or see our web page (https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/requestgovernorbushrecords.html). Include enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information requested. (Note: The Governor's Office has requested that the State Archives contact the Public Information Coordinator for the Governor's Office when we receive a Public Information Act request for these records.) If our review reveals information that may be excepted by the Public Information Act, we are obligated to seek an open records decision from the Attorney General on whether the records can be released. The Public Information Act allows the Archives ten working days after receiving a request to make this determination. The Attorney General has 45 working days to render a decision. Alternately, the Archives can inform you of the nature of the potentially excepted information and if you agree, that information can be redacted or removed and you can access the remainder of the records.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

Researchers wishing to access videotapes, audiotapes, or floppy disks must contact Archives staff to obtain the necessary equipment.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Texas Governor George W. Bush General Counsel litigation files. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 2002/151

In December 2000, Governor George W. Bush designated the George Bush Presidential Library as the repository for the records from his tenure as Governor of Texas, under authority of Texas Government Code, Section 441.201. Shortly after he left office, the records were shipped to the Bush Library in College Station, Texas. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn ruled the records are state records subject to the Texas Public Information Act and the management of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission even after transfer to a federal facility (Opinion No. JC-0498, May 3, 2002). In July 2002 the records were transferred from the Bush Library to the Texas State Archives in Austin for preparation for research use. In June 2003, a memorandum of understanding signed by representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and George W. Bush replaced a January 2002 interim memorandum of understanding. The records were moved to the George W. Bush Presidential Library in February 2013.

Processing Information

Tonia J. Wood, March 2008

Finding aid updated by Tonia J. Wood, April 2013

Other Finding Aids

Detailed Description of the Records