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Commentary: Know Texas’ open records laws

2022-03-31T17:08:47-05:00

By Kelley Shannon Guest Columnist The Monitor Originally published June 9, 2014 Picture yourself attending a local government meeting because you’re curious about the hiring of a new city manager. Suddenly, city commissioners go into a closed-door session to talk secretly. Can they do that? Is it legal? Or, let’s say, you’ve requested information from your school district about its classroom curriculum. You are told obtaining those documents will cost hundreds of dollars. What can you do? Conversely, if you are a public official, what does the law allow you to charge for a large and time-consuming public records request? These [...]

Commentary: Know Texas’ open records laws2022-03-31T17:08:47-05:00

Viewing policy reduces media witnesses to Texas executions

2014-06-05T21:39:12-05:00

By Terri Langford The Texas Tribune Originally published June 5, 2014 At a time when a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma and secrecy about how Texas prisons obtain lethal injection drugs have increased public scrutiny of the procedure, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is allowing fewer media outlets to attend executions. There are only five media seats available in one of two tiny viewing rooms adjacent to the Texas execution chamber in Huntsville. While some of those seats have long been reserved for specific media outlets, the TDCJ has in the past allowed other reporters to fill empty chairs when those [...]

Viewing policy reduces media witnesses to Texas executions2014-06-05T21:39:12-05:00

Simpson letter warns against settling for ‘tame transparency’

2014-06-04T15:05:01-05:00

By Reeve Hamilton The Texas Tribune Originally published June 3, 2014 In a five-page letter sent Monday to all Texas House members, state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, expressed concerns with the legislative committee investigating University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall, warning his colleagues that they shouldn’t settle for what he called “tame transparency.” The House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, which launched its investigation of Hall nearly a year ago, recently voted that grounds to impeach the regent exist. Hall has been accused of abusing his office in the course of personally conducting investigations of the University of [...]

Simpson letter warns against settling for ‘tame transparency’2014-06-04T15:05:01-05:00

Perry seeks to keep details of Toyota incentives secret

2014-06-03T22:00:13-05:00

By Forrest Wilder Texas Observer Originally published June 1, 2014 Rick Perry’s office refuses to release any information about the $40 million it’s offering Toyota to relocate to Texas, despite providing the Observer with similar information last year for a $12 million grant to Chevron. The Observer and the Houston Chronicle both filed open records requests with the governor’s office after Perry announced in April the $40 million incentive grant to Toyota from the Texas Enterprise Fund. The governor’s office promotes the Enterprise Fund as a “deal-closing” program that helps bring jobs to Texas. But in some cases evidence suggests that [...]

Perry seeks to keep details of Toyota incentives secret2014-06-03T22:00:13-05:00

Abbott reverses course, says execution drug supplier name can be kept secret

2014-05-30T15:24:25-05:00

By Nomaan Merchant and Michael Graczyk Associated Press, via U.S. News and World Report Originally published May 30, 2014 DALLAS (AP) — Texas can keep secret the name of its supplier for its execution drugs, the state attorney general determined after law enforcement argued that suppliers face serious danger. In the decision, Attorney General Greg Abbott's Office cited a "threat assessment" signed by Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw that says pharmacies selling execution drugs face "a substantial threat of physical harm." Thursday's decision was a reversal for the state's top prosecutor on an issue being challenged in several [...]

Abbott reverses course, says execution drug supplier name can be kept secret2014-05-30T15:24:25-05:00

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