Deadline for entering Spirit of FOI Award contest is Friday
Texas journalists have until Friday to enter the 2015 Spirit of FOI Award contest, which recognizes outstanding efforts to promote open government and the First Amendment. This year's contest is open to newspaper, radio and television stations and online news organizations. Entries must have been published or broadcast in 2014. Winners will be honored at the FOI Foundation of Texas annual conference Sept. 17 in Austin. Click here for contest [...]
Private college police bill among open government proposals this week at Texas Capitol
The Texas House Higher Education Committee heard testimony this week on Senate Bill 308, which would make private college campus police records accessible to the public. Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, sponsored the measure in the House. The bill originated with Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, following a videotaped beating of a man by Rice University police. The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and other open government advocates are supporting the [...]
Open government bills moving forward, getting hearings at Texas Capitol
This week Texas legislators were busy hearing bills both good and bad for open government and freedom of information as end-of-session legislative deadlines loom. The House Judiciary and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee approved HB 1766 by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, that allows for continued reporting by the news media on third party allegations of wrongdoing. The Senate, meanwhile, passed its version of the bill, SB 627 by Sen. Joan Huffman, [...]
Texas Senate approves third party allegation reporting bill
The Texas Senate approved legislation Wednesday that allows journalists to accurately report on third party allegations on matters of public importance. Senate Bill 627 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, was agreed upon by the Texas Press Association, Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and others. It clarifies a recent Texas Supreme Court decision and allows reporting on allegations that shine light on such matters as [...]
Legislators consider bill allowing for reporting on wrongdoing allegations
Legislation by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, that would allow continued accurate news reporting on wrongdoing allegations went before the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee on Tuesday. News organizations, trial lawyers and other groups have agreed on updates to House Bill 1766. The bill clarifies a recent Texas Supreme Court decision and codifies what has been common law for more than two decades. First Amendment attorney Laura Prather, a [...]
UT regent asks attorney general for access to confidential information
By Matthew Watkins The Texas Tribune Originally published April 20, 2015 When he abstained from voting to appoint Gregory Fenves as the new president of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, UT System Regent Wallace Hall said he still had some "lingering, unresolved questions" about the admissions process at the flagship school. Hours later, Hall's lawyer requested help from the state attorney general to find some answers. In [...]
Texas lawmakers consider shielding information on suppliers of execution drugs
By Paul Weber Associated Press via Laredo Morning Times Originally published April 15, 2015 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Saying that executions in Texas are becoming "increasingly difficult to carry out," state officials Wednesday urged lawmakers to send Republican Gov. Greg Abbott a bill that would prevent even death row inmates from knowing the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers. The debate in the Legislature took place just hours before the [...]
UPDATE: Many bills before legislative committees this week open, close access to government
Texas House and Senate committees are considering more than 20 bills this week that would open - and close - public access to state and local government. The House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday on House Bill 2633 by Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, that would close off public access to key information in traffic accident reports. Meanwhile, the House Business and Industry Committee is considering [...]
Hacker group Anonymous demands release of video in Grapevine police shooting
By Dianne Solis The Dallas Morning News Originally published April 13, 2015 Anonymous, the collective of activist hackers, is urging North Texas officials to release a Grapevine police video of a traffic stop that led to the fatal shooting of Rubén García Villalpando, a 31-year-old mechanic who was not armed. García Villalpando, a Mexican immigrant, was shot Feb. 20 after he was chased into Euless by Grapevine Officer Robert Clark. [...]
Legislative Update: 2015 session
As the 2015 Texas legislative session came to a close, significant strides were made in the free speech and transparency areas. The most important legislative victory for journalists was passage of Senate Bill 627, which codifies a defense for the news media's accurate reporting of third-party allegations. Accurate reporting on such allegations had been protected under Texas common law for 25 years but was called into question in a Texas [...]
UT regents call special meeting on Hall’s new information requests
By Matthew Watkins The Texas Tribune Originally published April 6, 2015 Inquiries by a grand jury and an outside consultant have wrapped up. Calls for resignation have been ignored, and impeachment efforts have stalled. But the controversy over requests for information from University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall continues to boil. The system’s board of regents on Monday called a special meeting for this week to discuss a new [...]
Perry prosecutors fight to keep invoices secret
By Terri Langford The Texas Tribune Originally published April 3, 2015 A Houston lawyer, for reasons unknown, is trying to get the detailed billing records submitted by special prosecutors pursuing felony charges against former Gov. Rick Perry, opening another front in the tangled legal saga. While the likely presidential candidate waits to hear if an appeals court will throw out the charges against him, special prosecutors Mike McCrum and David [...]
Spirit of FOI Awards open to broadcast, online and newspaper entries
The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is seeking entries for the annual Spirit of FOI Awards, which recognize outstanding journalism promoting open government and the public's right to know. This year the awards are open to television and radio stations and online news organizations as well as newspapers. Eligible work must have been published in 2014. Winners will be honored at the FOI Foundation of Texas annual conference Sept. [...]
House Elections Committee hears election notice bills
The Texas House Elections Committee was hearing two bills Monday that would move election notice information from newspapers to government websites. House Bill 1499 by Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston,would allow a newspaper notice to state only a website address at which readers could go find election polling place locations, rather than listing all the locations. House Bill 2644 by Rep. Cesar Jose Blanco, D-El Paso, would allow election boundary locations [...]
Tyler Morning Telegraph: Tax deals should be open records
Editorial Tyler Morning Telegraph Originally published March 25, 2015 One of the best ideas to come out of this year’s Sunshine Week — a week dedicated to open and accountable government — is a bipartisan movement in Austin to change the way governing bodies such as cities and counties do economic development. An “Economic Development Transparency Coalition” has formed, calling on the Legislature to change the Open Meetings Act and [...]
Dallas Morning News Opinion Blog: Bill to make birth dates confidential is dead
By Rodger Jones Dallas Morning News Originally published March 25, 2015 Just got off the phone with the office of Rep. Cindy Burkett to fact-check her bill (HB 2766) that would have amended the Texas Open Records Act to keep birth dates confidential. Here’s an unexpected fact I learned: Burkett will not ask for a hearing on this legislation, according to her chief of staff, Allison Billodeau. That means the [...]
Senators hear testimony on police body cameras
AUSTIN _ Legislation that would supply and train Texas police officers with body cameras remains "a work in progress" but it's important to start debating the issue, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, told a state Senate committee Tuesday. Confrontations involving police and citizens across the nation point to the potential usefulness of police body cameras, West said, adding the time "is ripe for public consideration." The Senate Criminal Justice Committee heard [...]
After impromptu toll road debate, Dallas mayor warns of open meetings violation
By Robert Wilonsky The Dallas Morning News Originally published March 20, 2015 Two weeks ago a couple of Dallas City Council members debated the pros and cons of a toll road between the Trinity River levees. And, as it turns out, Mayor Mike Rawlings isn’t happy about it. At all. On Wednesday he sent the council a memo telling them to stop talking about things that aren’t on the council’s [...]
Rep. Todd Hunter, FOIFT leaders talk open government with journalists at Sunshine Week briefing
Journalists met with leaders of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, for a Sunshine Week briefing Wednesday on open government legislation pending at the state Capitol. "There's nothing wrong with providing public information," Hunter said, urging news reporters to educate their audience on "the positiveness and the common sense of these laws." Also speaking at the briefing at the Austin American-Statesman were FOI [...]
Senate panel votes to classify private university police records as public
Following violent incidents involving private university police officers, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would classify those campus police records as public information. The committee voted 5-0 in favor of sending Senate Bill 308 by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, to the full Senate. Robert Arnold, a reporter for KPRC-TV in Houston who reported on a videotaped beating of a man by Rice University police, testified on [...]