The Texas House passed HB 4219 on Friday by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, backed by the FOI Foundation of Texas and the Texas Sunshine Coalition. The bill now moves on to the Texas Senate.
The legislation requires governments to reply to public information requestors even if there are no responsive records or when the governmental body has a previous ruling by the attorney general’s office allowing it to legally withhold the documents. It’s good customer service and common sense and keeps requestors from wondering why they’re being ignored. Currently, many governments don’t respond to requestors in these situations, and some ignore requestors completely. The bill sets up a complaint process with the AG’s office for requestors when the government fails to respond.
Several other Texas Sunshine Coalition-backed bills have been approved by the House Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency and are waiting for consideration by the full House of Representatives:
HB 2248, by Rep. John Smithee, allowing for recovery of attorneys’ fees in certain Texas Public Information Act lawsuits.
HB 4218, by Capriglione, requiring release of electronic information in searchable-sortable spreadsheet form when requested and if it’s maintained in that format.
HB 3719, by Rep. Todd Hunter, restoring dates of birth to public records to allow for accurate identification of people who have common names, which helps journalists, lenders, employers and landlords in identifying the correct person.
HB 4990, by Rep. Terry Canales, requiring the Attorney General’s Office to operate an open government hotline and establishing a more formalized TPIA complaint process.
HB 4991, by Canales, requiring open government training for outside attorneys hired by governments to handle Public Information Act requests.
Meanwhile, the Senate versions of these transparency bills continue to await hearings in the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. The legislative session ends June 2.