PIA

Bill would limit Public Information Act use to Texans

FOIFT2015-02-06T14:13:19-06:00

By Madlin Mekelburg Houston Chronicle Originally published Feb. 5, 2015 A bill filed Wednesday seeks to limit the scope of the Texas Public Information Act to Texas residents. The legislation, filed by Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Katy, would allow members of a governmental body to decide if they want to deny or comply with open records requests filed by non-Texas residents. Current law stipulates public information in Texas must be made available to all members of the public, without regard to residency. “The purpose of Texas government is to serve Texans, not folks from other places,” Schofield said. “It costs money and [...]

Bill would limit Public Information Act use to TexansFOIFT2015-02-06T14:13:19-06:00

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

Bill aims to make police at private universities more transparent

FOIFT2015-01-20T15:23:28-06:00

By Drew Joseph San Antonio Express-News Originally published Jan. 16, 2015 A bill from a powerful state senator aims to make police departments at private universities, such as the one at the University of the Incarnate Word, subject to the same public records law that applies to other law enforcement agencies. The measure from state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, would specify that campus police departments are governmental bodies even if they are at a private institution. The Texas Public Information Act now shields private university police departments from releasing certain records that [...]

Bill aims to make police at private universities more transparentFOIFT2015-01-20T15:23:28-06:00

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