Moody amends Texas Public Information Act bill to include important deceased suspects records measure
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 [...]
Report reveals Sandra Bland recorded her own arrest in 2015 traffic stop
By Brian CollisterInvestigative NetworkWFAA StaffOriginal published May 6, 2019 New cellphone footage from the now infamous traffic stop of Sandra Bland shows her perspective when a Texas state trooper points a Taser and yells, “I will light you up!” Bland, 28, was found dead three days later in her Waller County jail cell near Houston. Her death was ruled a suicide. The new video -- released as part of a WFAA [...]
Companies using hole in Texas open records law to keep University of Texas athletics contracts secret
By Brian DavisAustin American-StatesmanOriginally published May 7, 2019 Because of a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court in 2015 allowing companies to keep government contract information hidden from the public, numerous University of Texas at Austin athletics contracts remain secret. Legislation by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, attempts to plug that hole in the Texas Public Information Act. Read the full story here.
Submit your entries for 2019 Spirit of FOI Award
The FOI Foundation of Texas is pleased to announce 2019 guidelines for the Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award contest. The contest is open to newspaper, broadcast and online media. The Spirit of FOI Award recognizes outstanding work in promoting open government and the public’s right to know. The deadline for submission of entries is Friday, May 31, 2019. Nominations must be for work published or broadcast in calendar year [...]
Open government bills moving forward at Texas Capitol
UPDATED April 11, 2019 Several proposals to strengthen Texas' open government laws are moving ahead in the Texas Legislature. The Texas Public Information Act contracting transparency bill by Sen. Kirk Watson won final passage in the state Senate on Wednesday, April 10. It closes loopholes created by Texas Supreme Court rulings and is another step toward Texas taxpayers regaining their right to know how their money is spent. Earlier this [...]
Texas Tribune Analysis: Some of the secrets of Texas government aren’t supposed to be secrets
By Ross RamseyThe Texas TribuneOriginally published March 25, 2019 The Texas Legislature, full of people who believe in open government and who also like to settle things quietly and outside of public view, is diving into open-government legislation. Read the full analysis here.
No right to know? Texas public records get harder and harder to acquire
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 [...]
Sunshine Week: Free speech, public’s right to know under attack in Texas, so let’s act now
By Kelley Shannon Executive Director FOI Foundation of Texas We Texans are fiercely independent and like to make our views known. On that, surely, we can agree. Using our First Amendment right to speak out goes hand in hand with access to public information that helps us understand how our government functions. Unfortunately, both basic American principles – free speech and the people’s right to know – are under attack [...]
Legislators hear testimony on closing police loophole in Texas Public Information Act
AUSTIN _ The parents of teens and young adults who died in police custody urged the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday to close a loophole in the Public Information Act so they can access records about their loved ones' deaths. "Government transparency is government transparency, even when it's not pretty," said House Speaker Pro Tem Joe Moody, D-El Paso, as he explained the need for his House Bill 147. [...]
Texas’ highest criminal court strikes down a provision of Open Meetings Act as ‘constitutionally vague’
By Emma Platoff The Texas Tribune Originally published Feb. 27, 2019 In a major blow to the state’s government transparency laws, Texas’ highest criminal court has struck down a significant provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act, calling it “unconstitutionally vague.” That law, which imposes basic requirements providing for public access to and information about governmental meetings, makes it a crime for public officials to “knowingly [conspire] to circumvent this [...]
Lawmakers file bill to repair Texas Public Information Act, help citizens track spending
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 21, 2019 AUSTIN – Two Texas lawmakers filed bipartisan legislation Thursday to strengthen the state’s Public Information Act and give Texans the ability to once again track the spending of taxpayer money. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, filed Senate Bill 943 and House Bill 2189, respectively. The identical pieces of legislation address citizens’ access to information contained in and surrounding state and [...]
Corpus Christi Caller-Times Editorial: What are SLAPP lawsuits and why do you need a law to protect you from them?
By Corpus Christi Caller-Times Editorial Board Originally published Feb. 15, 2019 Why would a law with the positive-sounding name Texas Citizens Participation Act be in danger? From whom? Should you be worried? The short answer to the last question is yes. You should be worried unless you are insanely rich and don't value the public good above your own. What does this law do? Before 2011, people, businesses and other [...]
Rep. Todd Hunter files two major transparency bills at Texas Capitol
By Kelley Shannon Executive Director FOI Foundation of Texas Feb. 13, 2019 Two major bills in the FOI Foundation and Texas Sunshine Coalition open government legislative agenda have been filed by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi. House Bill 1655 would restore public access to dates of birth in many public documents, including criminal justice records and candidate applications. This helps to ensure accuracy in reporting and allows public vetting of politicians running for [...]
Commentary: Transparency, economic development regulations are dying in Texas
By Nathan M. Jensen and Calvin Thrall University of Texas Commentary in Austin American-Statesman Originally published Feb. 6, 2019 Amazon’s search for a second headquarters, the so called HQ2, should make Texans concerned about the lack of transparency of economic development. Many cities have not released their HQ2 bids to the public, even though the competition is now complete. In Texas, none of our cities including Austin, Dallas and Houston [...]
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 [...]