The Texas House Higher Education Committee heard testimony this week on Senate Bill 308, which would make private college campus police records accessible to the public.
Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, sponsored the measure in the House. The bill originated with Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, following a videotaped beating of a man by Rice University police. The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and other open government advocates are supporting the bill.
On Wednesday, before the House committee, Dallas Morning News reporter Melissa Repko and KPRC-TV reporter Robert Arnold of Houston testified, respectively, on their experiences covering police at Southern Methodist University and Rice University.
The bill is awaiting a committee vote.
On Thursday, the House Corrections Committee heard testimony from the FOI Foundation of Texas and others in support of House Bill 1587, which would require the posting of information online about lethal injection drugs used in executions. That bill by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, was left pending in the committee.