FOIFT, Author at Freedom of Information Foundation Texas

Texas House members gearing up for committee work

FOIFT2015-02-05T17:44:01-06:00

The Texas Capitol is abuzz today as House members start getting ready for committee work. House Speaker Joe Straus announced committee assignments Wednesday. New committee chairmen are hurriedly getting organized for meetings that will start in the next few days, while committee members are getting better acquainted with one another. The Senate has already commenced with committee meetings. To see the full list of House assignments, check out the Texas Tribune's story.

Texas House members gearing up for committee workFOIFT2015-02-05T17:44:01-06:00

U.S. Senate Judiciary to move on FOIA reform sponsored by Cornyn, Leahy

FOIFT2015-02-03T23:54:23-06:00

By Mario Trujillo The Hill Originally published Feb. 3 ,2015 The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider an update to the law managing the public’s access to government records in one of its first legislative acts this year. Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday will hold a markup of the FOIA Improvement Act, which unanimously passed the Senate last year but failed to make it to President Obama’s desk. Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, on Monday re-introduced the bill to update the Freedom of Information Act along with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). One of the largest changes [...]

U.S. Senate Judiciary to move on FOIA reform sponsored by Cornyn, LeahyFOIFT2015-02-03T23:54:23-06:00

Abbott tweaks controversial email destruction policy

FOIFT2015-01-29T13:45:46-06:00

By David Saleh Rauf San Antonio Express-News Originally published Jan. 28, 2015 AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott has changed a controversial policy put in place by former Gov. Rick Perry to delete emails every seven days, extending the period to officially scrub emails to 30 days. An Abbott spokeswoman said the governor initiated the new the record retention rule on his first day on the job, Jan 20. Along with the change to Perry’s email policy, Abbott has created a new position in his office to handle all open records requests. Jordan Hale, the public information coordinator for Abbott when he [...]

Abbott tweaks controversial email destruction policyFOIFT2015-01-29T13:45:46-06:00

Fort Bend County withholds details of paramedic raises until after vote

FOIFT2015-01-28T14:53:15-06:00

By Jayme Fraser Houston Chronicle Originally published Jan. 27, 2015 Fort Bend County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved an average 22 percent increase to the wages of paramedics and EMTs after county officials refused to provide details about the proposal in the days leading up to the vote, as required by state open government laws. On Thursday, a Chronicle reporter requested details about how much wages would be increased under the proposal, but county administrators and the staff of elected officials did not return multiple emails or calls requesting the same information even though commissioners had received two versions of the [...]

Fort Bend County withholds details of paramedic raises until after voteFOIFT2015-01-28T14:53:15-06:00

Dallas Morning News: How transparent is your community?

FOIFT2015-01-26T15:40:57-06:00

By Bob Mong Editor The Dallas Morning News Originally published Jan. 24, 2015 As a citizen, you have the right to inspect vast amounts of public information about how taxpayer dollars are spent. It’s your right. It’s the law. The law is quite specific about what is available and how quickly information should be delivered to citizens. Several enterprising Dallas Morning News reporters were determined to find out how well the Texas Public Information Act was being applied by government entities. In a yearlong project, the reporters sent out and tracked 565 requests to 113 area cities, towns, county governments and school districts. [...]

Dallas Morning News: How transparent is your community?FOIFT2015-01-26T15:40:57-06:00

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