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By Taylor GoldsteinHouston ChronicleOriginally published June 12, 2019 Gov. Greg Abbott has given his stamp of approval to a series of bills that will restore open government protections stripped away by recent Texas court decisions. The new laws will allow the public more access to records about government contracts and tamp down on secret meetings by elected officials. Senate Bill 943, which Abbott signed Monday, re-establishes in the law that information about contracts that governments make with businesses must be public, with some exceptions. Read the full story here.

Two important open government measures won final approval Thursday in the Texas Senate, which concurred with House amendments on Senate Bill 943, the Public Information Act contracting transparency bill, and Senate Bill 1640, the update to the Open Meeting Act. Both pieces of legislation next head to Gov. Greg Abbott. These proposals were among the leading initiatives of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, worked together on the bipartisan contracting bill. It plugs holes in the Public Information Act created when the Texas Supreme Court issued rulings in 2015 blocking much [...]

Speaker Pro Tem Joe Moody succeeded in amending an open government bill Tuesday with his measure to close a Texas Public Information Act loophole that has allowed police to withhold records from the public when a suspect died in custody. Moody prevailed in a vote to amend SB 944 by Sen. Kirk Watson and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, which ultimately won preliminary House passage. Numerous families have come to the Texas Capitol this session to tell of not being able to access records on how their loved ones died. They, along with news reporters and other citizens, have been denied records because [...]