Texas Legislature

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 [...]

By Editorial Board, Austin American-Statesman Originally posted Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 Asked if she recalls voting on bills that would keep Texas taxpayers from knowing how much is spent on legislative pensions, State Rep. Donna Howard replied that she doesn’t. Howard, an Austin Democrat who took office in 2006, wryly noted that the legislation to deprive voters of such information wouldn’t have been announced in big, bold letters well in advance of adoption. But thanks to the American-Statesman’s Mike Ward we know about it now. The lack of information surfaced in a court ruling rendered by Travis County State District Judge [...]