Texas Legislature

Aligning open government ideals with law enforcement provisions

2018-11-20T18:17:23-06:00

By Paul C. Watler Dallas Partner, Jackson Walker Past president, FOI Foundation of Texas Originally published Oct. 30, 2018 In Texas, our public information act is founded on the proposition that the people are sovereign and entitled to full disclosure of governmental affairs in order to retain control of public institutions. Embedded in our state FOI law is the policy that the people “do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” As a ringing enunciation of Jeffersonian democracy, the language is without [...]

Aligning open government ideals with law enforcement provisions2018-11-20T18:17:23-06:00

FOI Foundation joins media coalition brief on Texas anti-SLAPP law in federal court

2018-09-17T15:03:02-05:00

Reporters Committee and media coalition argue Texas anti-SLAPP law should apply in federal court Evan Popp |  September 12, 2018 A Texas law aimed at making it easier to dismiss meritless lawsuits intended to chill speech should apply in federal court, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 39 media organizations argued in a friend-of-the-court brief filed last week in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the brief filed in Rudkin v. Roger Beasley Imports, Inc., the media coalition urges the federal appeals court to reverse a district court's ruling and hold that the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA) applies in federal [...]

FOI Foundation joins media coalition brief on Texas anti-SLAPP law in federal court2018-09-17T15:03:02-05:00

Show us the money, let us see how tax dollars are spent

2022-03-31T17:08:28-05:00

By Kelley Shannon Executive Director Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas It’s quite simple, really. We Texans have a right to know how our taxpayer dollars are spent. It’s our money. We, the people, choose our government. Our elected public officials represent us. They manage and spend our tax money. But we, the people,get to decide whether they are doing it well. To do that, we need light shining on the workings of our government. But that essential element of our democracy is in jeopardy in Texas. Taxpayers are being denied information about government contracts with private companies and about tax [...]

Show us the money, let us see how tax dollars are spent2022-03-31T17:08:28-05:00

First Amendment attorney Laura Prather to receive James Madison Award

2018-08-27T13:44:03-05:00

Aug. 27, 2018 For Immediate Release AUSTIN – First Amendment attorney Laura Lee Prather, a champion of free speech and government transparency, is the recipient of the 2018 James Madison Award presented by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. The award honors those who demonstrate outstanding commitment to upholding the principles of the First Amendment and open government. Prather will receive the award Sept. 21 at the John Henry Faulk Awards Luncheon during the foundation’s Bernard and Audre Rapoport State Conference in Austin. “Laura is fearless and tireless in championing open government. No one in Texas has done more for [...]

First Amendment attorney Laura Prather to receive James Madison Award2018-08-27T13:44:03-05:00

State audit slams Alamo oversight, appears similar to ‘doctored’ draft

2018-06-01T14:39:43-05:00

By Jonathan Tilove Austin American-Statesman Originally published May 31, 2018 The Texas General Land Office released an internal audit Thursday critical of accounting practices at the Alamo that is consistent with a draft report from September that the American-Statesman had obtained and written about in February but which Land Commissioner George P. Bush had described as “doctored.” The document, which questions the use of a nonprofit to manage the Alamo, was characterized by the agency as a “proactive internal audit of the Alamo’s accounting and financial management — the first of its kind in Alamo history — undertaken by the Texas [...]

State audit slams Alamo oversight, appears similar to ‘doctored’ draft2018-06-01T14:39:43-05:00

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    3001 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 302
    Austin, Texas 78705

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