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No right to know? Texas public records get harder and harder to acquire

FOIFT2019-03-19T21:29:21-05:00

By Jeremy BlackmanHouston ChronicleOriginally published March 14, 2019 In Texas, records that might have once been public are increasingly difficult to obtain, according to an analysis of 10 years worth of attorney general's decisions by ABC13 in collaboration with the Houston Chronicle. The review found that the number of appeals from state and local agencies to withhold information has nearly doubled in the past decade. The Houston Chronicle took an in-depth look at the roadblocks to public information in Texas in this story published during Sunshine Week. Read the full article here.

No right to know? Texas public records get harder and harder to acquireFOIFT2019-03-19T21:29:21-05:00

LULAC sues Texas over non-citizen voting claim, says Public Information Act being used to hide data

FOIFT2019-01-31T15:13:18-06:00

By Guillermo Contreras San Antonio Express-News Originally published Jan. 29, 2019 The League of United Latin American Citizens filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Secretary of State David Whitley and Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking an order to force state officials to release the data used in support of Paxton’s claim last week that nearly 100,000 voters may not be U.S. citizens. The suit says Paxton’s announcement last week is a method of voter suppression, meant to instill fear in Hispanic voters. “That’s all they’re doing,” said Luis Vera, LULAC’s general counsel. “They’ve done it in Florida; they’ve done it in [...]

LULAC sues Texas over non-citizen voting claim, says Public Information Act being used to hide dataFOIFT2019-01-31T15:13:18-06:00

In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appeal

FOIFT2018-10-22T17:34:51-05:00

By Chuck Lindell Austin American-Statesman Originally published Oct. 19, 2018 The Texas Supreme Court has announced that it will review a lower court decision that required prison officials to identify the pharmacy that supplied the state with execution drugs under a 2014 legal challenge. The state’s highest civil court had rejected the case in June but reversed itself Friday — a rarely granted move that came after lawyers for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the effort to unmask the pharmacy was an attack on the death penalty that will jeopardize the continued availability of lethal-injection drugs. Once identified, pharmacies [...]

In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appealFOIFT2018-10-22T17:34:51-05:00

City manager: Open meetings, elections violations rampant in Haltom City

FOIFT2018-08-06T14:53:32-05:00

Violations of open meetings and elections laws are flagrant in the Fort Worth suburb of Haltom City, Haltom’s city manager told The Texas Monitor this week. The problem is so pervasive that City Manager Keith Lane asked the state attorney general’s office, the Tarrant County district attorney, and the Texas Rangers to investigate violations by Haltom City officials of Texas’ open meetings law, election code, the city charter, and other laws. The alleged violations include times when city council has discussed matters in executive session in ways that violate state law, even after being warned against it. Lane also said some [...]

City manager: Open meetings, elections violations rampant in Haltom CityFOIFT2018-08-06T14:53:32-05:00

Mayor used personal email for arena talks

FOIFT2018-08-06T14:37:50-05:00

Photo by Jorge Salgado El Paso Mayor Dee Margo appears to have sidestepped the city’s public information rules and state law during negotiations with arena opponents earlier this year. An El Paso Inc. review of 155 pages of emails and documents, obtained from arena opponents and through public information requests, found that at least seven emails sent and received by the mayor from his personal email account were not forwarded to his official city account. The city should have produced those emails, which involve city business, in response to El Paso Inc.’s public information request but they were missing. [...]

Mayor used personal email for arena talksFOIFT2018-08-06T14:37:50-05:00

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