LULAC sues Texas over non-citizen voting claim, says Public Information Act being used to hide data
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 [...]
Journalists: Entries sought for 2019 Texas Gavel Awards
The State Bar of Texas has announced that entries are being accepted for the 2019 Texas Gavel Awards, honoring outstanding journalism that fosters public understanding of the legal system. Award recipients will be honored at the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas state conference Sept. 20, 2019 in Austin. Click here for more information.
Editorial: Don’t bury police video with those who die in custody
By American-Statesman Editorial BoardAustin American-StatesmanOriginally published Jan. 10, 2019 Police video has the power to give an unbiased, unflinching view of what really happened — but it works only when the public is allowed to see it. We’ve seen the benefits of police camera footage clearing up the circumstances of officer-involved shootings and allowing for scrutiny of high-profile arrests. Think of what dashboard camera footage meant for our understanding of the 2015 forceful [...]
In reversal, city of Pharr releases city manager’s salary
By Dave Hendricks Progress TimesOriginally published Jan. 9, 2019 After attempting to keep City Manager Alex Meade’s salary a secret, Pharr announced Wednesday that “in the interest of continuing its commitment to transparency” the city would release the information. ... The Texas Public Information Act includes an exception for “information that, if released, would give advantage to a competitor or bidder.” A controversial Texas Supreme Court decision called Boeing v. [...]
Texas Sunshine Coalition seeks greater transparency
By Ken MartinThe Austin BulldogOriginally published Jan. 7, 2019 During the 2019 legislative session, open government advocates have high hopes that this time they will be able to convince lawmakers to demolish the legal barriers created by court decisions that are preventing access to important public information. Among other things, these court decisions prevent finding out how taxpayers’ money is being spent. They also bar access to dates of birth [...]
Austin police won’t release video, citing Public Information Act loophole used increasingly when suspect dies
By Josh Hinkle and Sarah RafiqueKXAN-TVOriginally published Jan. 3, 2019 The parents of a teenager who shot himself in a police patrol car have filed a federal lawsuit claiming Austin police have a pattern of performing incompetent and incomplete searches of detainees. Meanwhile, the Austin Police Department is refusing to release to the public patrol car video showing the officer's conversation with the teen. They are using a loophole in [...]
Taxpayers needs to know how money is spent, say advocates for closing hole in Texas open records law
By Robert T. GarrettThe Dallas Morning NewsOriginally published Dec. 27, 2018 AUSTIN — Open government advocates in Texas say a 3½-year-old court decision, probably unintentionally, has blown a growing hole in the state's transparency about how taxpayers' money is spent. Conservative and liberal think tanks, government watchdogs, consumer groups and industries that depend on robust access to public records, such as newspapers and broadcasters, have formed the Texas Sunshine Coalition. They want the [...]
Upshur County sheriff will send information request to AG’s office
By Glenn EvansLongview News-JournalOriginally published Dec. 17, 2018 The News-Journal filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office on Monday morning about Upshur County Sheriff Larry Webb’s handling of a request for a high-profile offense report earlier this month. Late Monday afternoon, the newspaper received a certified letter, dated Dec. 12, from Webb saying he will send information in an assault complaint against District Clerk Karen Bunn to the Attorney General’s Office [...]
TribTalk: R.I.P, the Texas Public Information Act
By Joe Larsen Attorney Gregor Cassidy, PLLC Board Member, FOI Foundation of Texas Originally published Dec. 7, 2018, in the Texas Tribune The once-robust Texas Public Information Act lies bleeding. The Texas Supreme Court’s decision this year to deny a newspaper’s petition for review of the opinion of the 1st Court of Appeals in the case of Nehls v. Hartman Newspapers is the latest deep cut. Nehls effectively nullifies the [...]
Paris News Column: Time to fight for your information rights
By Klark Byrd The Paris News Originally published Dec. 2, 2018 Texas Sunshine Laws are bumming me out. Sunshine Laws protect the public’s right to access information generated by the government and the right to witness proceedings of government agencies, boards and committees. There’s usually two parts, a public information act and an open meetings act. Texas, like every other state in which I’ve practiced journalism, has both acts. Unfortunately, [...]
Records obtained under Public Information Act show Calhoun Port commissioners spent 19K on trip to Chile
By Jessica Priest Victoria Advocate Originally published Dec. 1, 2018 The Calhoun Port Authority spent about $19,000 to send three board members and their wives to an October conference in Chile. By comparison, a similarly sized port 90 miles east along the Texas coast, Port Freeport, sent its port director and one board member to the international conference. The much-larger Port Houston sent no one to the same conference. The [...]
Statesman sues Department of Family and Protective Services over day care death records
By Sean Collins Walsh Austin American-Statesman Originally published Nov. 29, 2018 The Texas attorney general’s office has ruled that the Department of Family and Protective Services violated the state’s freedom-of-information law in its handling of a records request related to child deaths in day cares. The ruling comes after the American-Statesman in May requested the agency’s reports on deaths that occurred in Texas day cares over the past five years. [...]
Denied Evidence: KXAN examines denial of information in another death in police custody
By Josh Hinkle KXAN, Austin Originally published Nov. 19, 2018 Citing an obscure legal loophole, the Travis County Sheriff's Office blocked a grieving mother's request for evidence of how her 21-year-old son died in jail. Now, KXAN uncovers video and other records of the painful days leading up to his death and his interactions with jail staff in those final hours. The ongoing report has sparked a new investigation into [...]
Aligning open government ideals with law enforcement provisions
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 [...]
Daily Texan explores wait, costs involved in open records requests at UT-Austin
By Morgan O'Hanlon The Daily Texan Originally published Oct. 31. 2018 How many times have UT students appealed Title IX sanctions to the President’s Office? That’s the question former Daily Texanreporter Will Clark was trying to answer late last year as he reported the story “Presidential Power,” which explains UT President Gregory Fenves’ unique power as the final decision maker in appeals cases regarding student conduct. As part of his [...]
Editorial: Anderson County sheriff should release medical records of inmate’s death to family
Palestine Herald-Press Editorial Originally published Oct. 19, 2018 Over the last two months, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor has throttled every information source within reach that could shed light on prisoner Rhonda Newsome's death. Now, by withholding Newsome's medical records from her family, Taylor is not only stretching the limits of state public information laws to stiff the Herald-Press, but also ignoring federal regulations on the security of health information. [...]
In reversal, Texas Supreme Court accepts execution drug appeal
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 [...]
Facing complaints of excessive fees, Texas counties release billing records of their opioid lawyers for free
By Daniel Fisher Legal NewsLine Originally published Oct. 10, 2018 Texas counties that demanded tens of thousands of dollars to provide billing records from outside attorneys representing them in opioid lawsuits have mostly agreed to hand them over for free, after complaints were filed with the Texas Attorney General's Office alleging the cost estimates were excessive and violated the Texas Public Information Act. A number of counties initially quoted costs [...]
Travis County sheriff sues AG’s office to keep inmate’s death records confidential
By Katie Hall Austin American-Statesman Originally published Oct. 2, 2018 Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez is suing to keep some information about a man who died at the county jail confidential after the American-Statesman requested the internal investigation report into the inmate’s death. Justin Daniel Dominguez, 24, was brought into the Travis County Jail on a domestic violence assault charge the night of June 10, 2016, and was pronounced dead [...]
Austin American-Statesman, KBTX-TV receive Spirit of FOI Awards
For Immediate Release Sept. 21, 2018 Austin American-Statesman, KBTX-TV receive Spirit of FOI Awards for open government reporting AUSTIN - Two Texas news organizations have won the Spirit of FOI Award for reports exposing the secrecy behind Austin’s city manager selection process and the peculiar lack of information following the resignation of the Bryan Independent School District superintendent. The Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award, presented by the Freedom of [...]