Hadassah Schloss to be open government director in Texas General Land Office
Open records veteran Hadassah Schloss has been named the new director of open government for the Texas General Land Office. Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced Schloss' new role Thursday. Before her promotion, Schloss served as open records coordinator for the agency. She has more than two decades of experience working on state government transparency issues. "Throughout her distinguished career Hadassah Schloss has demonstrated a commitment to upholding the highest [...]
Texas Senate changes vote procedure, eliminates open government and other committees
By Morgan Smith The Texas Tribune Originally published Jan. 21, 2015 With a new lieutenant governor installed for the first time in over a decade Wednesday — and over the cries of Democrats — the Texas Senate voted to break from an almost 70-year tradition intended to encourage compromise among its 31 members. Now the approval of only 19 senators instead of 21 will be required to bring legislation to the [...]
Bill aims to make police at private universities more transparent
By Drew Joseph San Antonio Express-News Originally published Jan. 16, 2015 A bill from a powerful state senator aims to make police departments at private universities, such as the one at the University of the Incarnate Word, subject to the same public records law that applies to other law enforcement agencies. The measure from state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, would specify [...]
Lawmakers to wait for study of committee substitute posting proposal
The Texas House, in debating its rules for the legislative session, decided Thursday to wait for the Texas Legislative Council to study a proposal that would require posting most "committee substitutes" to bills 24 hours in advance of a committee hearing. The idea put forth by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, would give the public notice of a new version of a bill that is up for discussion in a committee [...]
FOI Foundation to press for open government at Texas Capitol
As the Legislature convenes at the state Capitol, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is at work preparing to promote open government and free press legislation. We'll strive to keep the Texas Public Information Act and Texas Open Meetings Act strong for the benefit of all. We'll weigh in on a multitude of bills that affect public access to information. Watch for frequent blog updates from the FOI Foundation [...]
Railroad to Texas officials: Releasing oil train reports could enable insider trading
By Curtis Tate McClatchy Washington Bureau Originally published Jan. 7, 2015 In the latest attempt to keep states from publicly releasing information about crude oil trains, one railroad argues that the disclosures could facilitate insider trading. In a Dec. 29 letter to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Kansas City Southern wrote that the state “should not disclose information to individuals that creates the potential for investment activity by individuals having [...]
Texas inaugural committee mum on who’s funding festivities
By Christy Hoppe The Dallas Morning News Originally published Jan. 7, 2015 AUSTIN — From preparations for their inauguration, it’s clear that Gov.-elect Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov.-elect Dan Patrick intend to dance with the ones who brung them. But it’s not that clear who will be paying for it. In a break from previous Texas inaugurations, officials said they will not release the identities of corporate and individual contributors [...]
Judge dismisses defamation lawsuit against Austin Bulldog
By Marty Toohey Austin American-Statesman Originally published Jan. 7, 2015 An Austin court has dismissed City Council Member Don Zimmerman’s campaign-season defamation lawsuit against the Austin Bulldog, an investigative reporting website. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled Wednesday that Zimmerman must pay the Bulldog $8,400 in attorney’s fees, plus $579 in court costs and other expenses and a $1,000 sanction for filing a frivolous suit, according to Bulldog attorneys. Peter [...]
Houston Chronicle on free speech: Defend to the death
Houston Chronicle Editorial Originally published Jan. 7, 2015 The masked gunmen who attacked the Paris publication Charlie Hebdo yesterday stand for nothing more than the most horrid scheme that villainy can invent, and fanaticism put into practice. We borrow those words from Voltaire, the Enlightenment-era satirical writer. He has passed, but his ideals of free speech live on. So will those of Charlie Hebdo. The self-proclaimed "irresponsible newspaper" has long [...]
San Antonio debates police body cameras, public access
By Josh Baugh San Antonio Express-News Originally published Jan. 7, 2015 The City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday continued deliberating whether to outfit police officers with body cameras and also made some headway on a new contract that will recast how towing companies handle wrecks on public streets. The Police Department will likely outfit 251 police officers on downtown bike patrol and in the Park Police with small cameras [...]
Texas veterinarian heads to appeals court in free speech case
Fox 4 KBTV Updated on Jan. 5, 2015 NEW ORLEANS—Does the First Amendment apply to licensed professionals who give advice over the Internet? That is the question to be presented to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Tuesday in a high-profile case that pits a veterinarian against the Texas Veterinary Board. Dr. Ron Hines - a disabled retiree and Texas-licensed veterinarian - had begun to use the [...]
FOIFT past president Jack Loftis, former Houston Chronicle editor, dies
Houston Chronicle By Kyrie O'Connor Originally published Dec. 30, 2014 Jack D. Loftis, who led the Houston Chronicle newsroom through space shuttle flights, the Enron scandal and the 9/11 terror attacks, has died at age 80 after a long illness. Loftis, the Chronicle's vice president and editor from 1987 to 2002, died about 10 p.m. Monday at the Gardens of Bellaire assisted living home. Loftis joined the Chronicle in 1965 [...]
FOI Foundation of Texas looks ahead to 2015
As the year comes to a close, and a new year is about to begin, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas reminds its supporters and all open government and First Amendment advocates that the FOI Foundation is here to serve you. In 2015, we'll be tracking legislation at the Texas Capitol that affects you and your ability to participate in our democracy through free speech and open government. Keep [...]
Prime Prep Academy ordered to release documents to The Dallas Morning News
By Jeff Mosier The Dallas Morning News Originally published Dec. 21. 2014 The Texas attorney general’s office has intervened to force Prime Prep Academy to release public documents it has withheld from The Dallas Morning News for months. The troubled charter school had 10 business days to provide all the documents to the attorney general, but it appears Prime Prep will miss that Friday deadline. Edwin Flores, the school’s attorney in this [...]
How the Cornyn-Leahy transparency bill suddenly died in Congress
By Josh Hicks Washington Post Originally published Dec. 16, 2014 Nothing comes easy for the current Congress, which has already left its mark as one of the least productive in U.S. history. The Fighting 113th has agreed in principle on the need to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, a key government-transparency law that guarantees public access to federal records. But House leaders last week shrugged off an opportunity to schedule [...]
Houston Chronicle: Greater Houston Partnership undermines good government by avoiding open records
Houston Chronicle Opinion/Editorials Staff Originally published Dec. 12, 2014 The Texas Public Information Act was one of the Texas Legislature's grand achievements under the reform-oriented first term of Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby. So it is with an ironic twist that the Greater Houston Partnership, chaired by the former lieutenant governor's son, has spent the past several years trying to avoid key components of that very law. The fight dates back [...]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Reveal the drug supplier for executions
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Opinion/Editorials Staff Originally published Dec. 12, 2014 When the state administers its ultimate punishment, the death penalty, the process ought to be as transparent as possible. That includes knowing the type of drugs used in lethal injections, and which pharmaceutical companies supply them to the state. Until last year, the suppliers’ names were known, and Attorney General Greg Abbott consistently ruled that such information had to be [...]
UT-Austin attempts to keep secret Garcia Marquez archive cost
By Jim Vertuno Associated Press Originally published Dec. 10, 2014 The University of Texas on Wednesday refused to release the contract and purchase price for the archive of Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and said it will ask the state attorney general for permission to keep those details secret. The university previously has disclosed the prices of such purchases - which can often push into millions of [...]
Keller ISD sues attorney general over survey results records request
Sandra Engelland Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Dec. 9, 2014 KELLER, Texas — Keller school district officials are suing the Texas Attorney General over an open records request related to last month’s bond election. Aaron Harris, who led the political action committee opposing the $169.5 million bond approved by voters, submitted a request for a copy of the individual responses to a survey the district funded to gauge public opinion [...]
Texans to fight to keep sales prices of land, homes and offices private
By Jan Buchholz Austin Business Journal Originally published Dec. 1, 2014 A coalition of powerful business and real estate organizations are lining up to oppose any legislative attempt next year to require the mandatory disclosure of sales prices of Texas properties. Texas currently is one of about a dozen states that does not require mandatory sales price disclosure. Austin Business Journal reported about the hot topic two years ago before [...]