Texas Legislature

By Matthew Waller Originally posted 4.27.13  AUSTIN — House Rep. Phil Stephenson said he wants innocence until a person is proven guilty, and to that end, some information might be better kept away from the public. His bill, HB 1331, would specifically make confidential certain investigations and complaints received by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which would close off to the general public access to complaints lodged against hundreds of government departments. His chief of staff, Matt Minor, said that department was chosen because a disproportionate number of complaints received by the agency are determined to be without merit. [...]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally posted Feb. 13, 2013 By now, it should be clear to every member of the Legislature, even the new ones, that HB2460 should not have been approved two years ago. The bill, written by then-Rep. Vicki Truitt of Keller, dropped a curtain of secrecy around information about public retirement funds in Texas. Pretty much, it said the people who run those funds, not the attorney general and not even state courts, get to decide whether to release information about their finances, even requests for broad overviews not violating the privacy of any individual. Last year, Truitt said [...]