AG orders records released; Fort Worth school district settled with Chesapeake for $1million
By Max Baker Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published April 11, 2016 FORT WORTH - The Fort Worth school district settled its lawsuit with Chesapeake Energy over natural gas royalties for $1 million, according to documents released Monday after the Texas attorney general decided that the information is public. The attorney general’s office ordered the district to release details of the out-of-court settlement despite efforts by Chesapeake to keep it private [...]
Court: Austin must ID private email addresses used for public business
By Nolan Hicks Austin American-Statesman Originally published April 8, 2016 Public officials won’t be able to shield their personal email addresses from the public if they use the accounts for government business, a state appellate court ruled Friday. Government watchdogs hailed the decision as a win for government transparency and the state’s public records laws. The litigation stems from the “walking quorum” controversy that roiled Austin City Hall five years [...]
Miller’s office withheld emails about ‘Jesus Shot’ trip
By Brian M. Rosenthal Houston Chronicle Originally published April 1, 2016 Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller's office withheld public records that suggest he obtained a medical procedure known as "The Jesus Shot" on a taxpayer-funded trip to Oklahoma, the Houston Chronicle has learned. In response to a February public records request, Miller's office had said that no email messages about the trip existed, even though it had more than a [...]
FOI Foundation of Texas hosting upcoming Open Government Seminars
AUSTIN _ The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas will host Open Government Seminars in the north Houston area, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley in May and June featuring training in the state’s public meetings and public records laws. The non-profit FOI Foundation, partnering with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, will offer one-day seminars designed for government employees, journalists, attorneys and members of the general public who [...]
City of McAllen continues to withhold parade information
By Mitchell Ferman The Monitor Originally published March 22, 2016 The City of McAllen called The Monitor’s open records request for issued checks, documents and emails between city officials relating to the Enrique Iglesias concert in December 2015 a “backdoor” attempt to “circumvent” a previous ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The city complied with a portion of the request while deferring the rest of the request to an [...]
Texas AG blocks release of ‘burn in hell’ audio
By Kenric Ward Watchdog.org Originally published March 23, 2016 The Texas Education Agency and state Attorney General Ken Paxton are blocking Watchdog.org from obtaining an audio recording of a teleconference during which a school board member told the TEA commissioner to “burn in hell.” Watchdog independently confirmed that an unidentified school board trustee told then-Commissioner Michael Williams that Williams should “die and burn in hell.” The remark was made as [...]
Public’s right to know highlighted by case of handcuffed 8-year-old
By Deborah McKeon Temple Daily Telegram Originally published March 14, 2016 The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas works hard to make sure that public business is conducted in public and that the liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment are protected. The public has a right to know what its government is doing and to receive straight talk, and that is what Sunshine Week highlights — the importance of efforts [...]
Call for entries: 2016 Spirit of FOI Award
The FOI Foundation of Texas is pleased to announce 2016 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 electronic submission of entries is Friday, May 6. Nominations must be for work published or broadcast in calendar year [...]
Celebrate ‘Sunshine Week,’ cherish Texas transparency
By Kelley Shannon FOI Foundation of Texas March 14, 2016 We Texans have a history of straight talk and openness, and our state’s public information laws reflect it. Shining light on our government allows democracy to flourish. As we celebrate that light during national Sunshine Week from March 13-19, let’s be thankful that Texas laws value the public’s right to know through broad access to records and meetings. But we [...]
El Paso City Council deletes proposed open records restriction
By Elida S. Perez El Paso Times Originally published March 8, 2016 The El Paso City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to delete a controversial item that would have restricted an entire class of people from requesting city documents through the Texas Public Information Act. City Rep. Emma Acosta, who placed the open records item on the agenda, initially asked City Council to approve an item that called for "discussion and [...]
El Paso council item to limit open records access criticized
By Elida S. Perez El Paso Times Originally published March 5, 2016 The City Council will have what an expert said is a pointless discussion about trying to restrict a class of individuals from requesting city records through the Texas Public Information Act. “They can’t just take it upon themselves to cut off whole classes of people from requesting records,” said Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas Executive Director Kelley Shannon. [...]
Chesapeake Energy wants settlement with Fort Worth school district kept secret
By Max B. Baker Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published March 2, 2016 When the Fort Worth school district sued Chesapeake Energy two years ago, it accused the company of using sham arrangements and outright fraud to subtract an untold amount of money from its royalty payments. The lawsuit stressed that the missing cash was being taken from an entity that does its business in an “open, ethical and honorable manner” [...]
Call for entries 2016: Spirit of FOI Award
The FOI Foundation of Texas is pleased to announce 2016 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 electronic submission of entries is Friday, May 6. Nominations must be for work published or broadcast in calendar year [...]
El Paso city spokeswoman’s records role ‘problematic’
By Cindy Ramirez El Paso Times Originally published Feb. 24, 2016 An outside investigator found it "problematic" that the city's public information officer determined which documents should have been released to the El Paso Times under an open records request the newspaper filed last year. The public information officer, Juli Lozano, withheld two documents that other city officials had said were responsive to a Times request for records related to projects that were requested [...]
Rangers report surfaces in Bland lawsuit; judge orders less redacted version, release of videos
By Gabrielle Banks Houston Chronicle Originally published Feb. 18, 2016 Before Sandra Bland's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, they asked to see the complete Texas Rangers report detailing everything from the time of her traffic stop until she was found dead three days later in a Waller County Jail cell. Attorneys for the family have been requesting a copy of the document ever since Bland's death last July. The [...]
Texas AG rules city of Killeen must provide information
By Holden Wilen Killeen Daily Herald Originally published Feb. 17, 2016 The Texas Attorney General ruled the city of Killeen needs to release documents it had been withholding from the public related to a $247,000 contract for security upgrades at the Killeen Municipal Court. City spokeswoman Hilary Shine said Wednesday the city will comply with the Attorney General’s ruling. “The Attorney General agreed that the City could withhold critical information [...]
Texas AG’s office lets Baylor keep sexual assault investigations secret
By Bobby Blanchard The Dallas Morning News Originally published Feb. 12, 2016 AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office issued an opinion earlier this week allowing Baylor University to keep investigations into recent sexual assaults at Baylor University secret. Because the victims have came forward and identified themselves to ESPN, an assistant to the attorney general wrote in an opinion that releasing the information would violate common law privacy. [...]
Activist sues Austin over housing deal, claims Open Meetings Act violation
By Andra Lim Austin American-Statesman Originally published Feb. 10, 2016 A judge should void an affordable housing deal, in which several Austin City Council members said they unknowingly waived up to $106.3 million in city fees, because the lack of public notice violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, said a lawsuit filed Wednesday by civic activist Brian Rodgers. Rodgers started asking questions last month about the deal, which was approved [...]
Editorial: Investigation can determine whether mobility authority broke open meetings law
By Editorial Board Austin American-Statesman Originally published Feb. 6, 2016 The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority again has come under fire regarding concerns about whether it is doing the public’s business in secret. At this point, there are few options in getting answers from CTRMA officials, whose statements to Travis County commissioners last week triggered questions about whether they are violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. The CTRMA is an [...]
Concerns raised about accessibility of police body cam footage
By St. John-Barned Smith Houston Chronicle Originally published Feb. 7, 2016 Months after statewide body camera legislation took effect and the Houston Police Department outlined its policies regarding the devices, local criminal justice watchdogs worry that some video from high-profile incidents may never see the light of day. At issue, they say, are provisions in the law that could stymie requests for camera footage, privacy protections, and local departmental reluctance [...]