Greater Houston Partnership to end public contracts to avoid information requests
By Mark Collette and Mike Morris Houston Chronicle Originally published Dec. 4, 2014 Greater Houston Partnership will terminate contracts with Houston, Harris County and surrounding governments, worth about $1 million per year, to avoid fulfilling public information requests, county and GHP officials said Thursday. GHP President Bob Harvey said the group is terminating the deals "in part due to the misperception that we are somehow beholden to the government agencies [...]
New Texas House rules to require press members to affirm they do not lobby
By John Reynolds The Texas Tribune Originally published Dec. 4, 2014 Members of the press will continue to be allowed on the House floor in the upcoming legislative session, but they will now be required to affirm that they do not lobby, according to procedures adopted Thursday morning by the legislative panel that manages operations of the Texas House. The normally routine procedure of credentialing media organizations received more scrutiny [...]
AG rules against information request on San Antonio’s homeland security funds
By Mark Reagan San Antonio Current Originally published Dec. 1, 2014 Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and heir to the Lone Star State's governorship, recently ruled against an open records request we filed. After a black man named Michael Brown was killed earlier this year by a white cop named Darren Wilson, we watched and listened, like most of the nation, as Ferguson, Missouri, erupted into protests against the police. [...]
Court says Tarrant Regional Water District didn’t violate open meetings law
By Bill Hanna Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Nov. 28, 2014 The 2nd Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Tarrant Regional Water District did not violate the Texas Open Meetings Act when it discussed a massive 149-mile pipeline project that will bring water from east Texas to Fort Worth and Dallas. Dallas businessman Monty Bennett sued TRWD in 2013, arguing that the board circumvented the Open Meetings law by [...]
Board chair backs out of meeting to avoid Open Meetings Act violation
By Bleah B. Patterson San Antonio College Ranger Originally published Nov. 25, 2014 District 8 trustee Clint Kingsbery said the public should expect a confrontation between the board of trustees and district administrators during the Dec. 16 regular board meeting. The trustees finally have recognized a lack of trust and communication among district administrators and faculty and students, Kingsbery said during Thursday’s special Faculty Senate meeting. Board Chair Anna Bustamante [...]
Lawmaker spoke to grand jury after making open government complaint
By Bill Hanna Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Nov. 23, 2014 A state representative said last week that he testified before a Henderson County grand jury after bringing a complaint against the Tarrant Regional Water District because of the way it conducts business. State Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, said he took a complaint to Henderson County District Attorney Scott McKee last summer. Gooden told the Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber [...]
FOIA improvement bill by Cornyn, Leahy clears Senate Judiciary Committee
By Kelley Shannon Executive Director FOI Foundation of Texas The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Freedom of Information Act improvement bill Thursday that makes several updates to the landmark federal right-to-know law. The next step for the measure by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, is a vote in the full Senate. Many of the bill's provisions were included in legislation that already unanimously passed the [...]
Terrell Tribune: AG rules city violated Public Information Act
By Gary Lindsley The Terrell Tribune Originally published Nov. 18, 2014 Governmental bodies throughout the country, day in and day out, violate their respective state’s open meetings and open records laws. The city of Terrell is no different, and for that matter, may not be any worse. But any way you look at it, when community members or media representatives ask governmental bodies for information, those governmental bodies may not [...]
Watler: Old-school investigative sports reporting still relevant after all these years
By Paul Watler Jackson Walker L.L.P. As a young lawyer in 1985, a case came my way that combined several passions: college football, newspaper journalism and the First Amendment. I was the associate attorney assigned to help apply legal muscle in support of our client, The Dallas Morning News. The newspaper's mission was to use open records law to pursue allegations that Southern Methodist University was illicitly paying football players – [...]
Beaumont Enterprise: City undermines public confidence in Leger shooting case
By Enterprise Editorial Staff Beaumont Enterprise Originally published Nov. 16, 2014 As Beaumont residents watch the ongoing dispute between the city government and the Leger family, they aren't seeing a public commitment to openness, accountability or community policing. Instead they are seeing a City Council and police department that are giving them reason, once again, to lose confidence in the once-troubled BPD. In response to requests for information about their actions [...]
Senate Open Government Committee hears testimony on student records
By Kelley Shannon FOI Foundation of Texas Executive Director AUSTIN _While federal law prevents a student's record from public release once the student is in college, laws are not as clear for those who applied to but did not attend the school, witnesses told the Senate Open Government Committee on Wednesday. "There is definitely a gap there," said Carol Longoria, assistant deputy to the president of the University of Texas [...]
Beaumont Enterprise Editorial: BISD superintendent search must be open, list all finalists
Editorial Staff Beaumont Enterprise Originally published Nov. 6, 2014 Many school districts in Texas will be looking for a new superintendent in the near future, and it goes without saying that all of these searches should be fully transparent. Nowhere, however, is that more important than in the Beaumont ISD. This is a school district that has undergone the ultimate act of state takeover. The new board of managers is putting [...]
On the road again: Open Government Seminar headed to Denton
AUSTIN _ The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is hosting an Open Government Seminar in Denton for residents throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area featuring training in the state’s public meetings and public records laws. The non-profit FOI Foundation, partnering with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office, will offer the one-day seminar on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in Denton. It is designed for government employees, journalists and any citizens who want [...]
Amarillo Globe-News editorial on disclosing superintendent finalists: The more, the merrier
Amarillo Globe-News Originally published on Nov. 3, 2014 When voters go the polls today, there will be several races that are more or less history. These races (if that is the correct term since there is no competition) feature a lone candidate. Talk about ballot box boredom. There is a more serious issue, though, as far as how our leaders are chosen, and this has more to do with public [...]
Save or delete? Official email policies vary by state
By Jenni Bergal Stateline Originally published Oct. 30, 2014 In Pennsylvania, state agency employees’ email is purged five days after it is deleted. In New York, email is automatically discarded after 90 days unless an employee specifically tags it. And in North Carolina, executive branch email of any kind must be kept for at least five years. Every state has policies governing how long records are saved and when they [...]
Austin man acquitted in misdemeanor case stemming from photographing police
By Jazmine Ulloa Austin American-Statesman Originally published Oct. 29, 2014 In likely the most hotly contested misdemeanor trial in Austin’s recent history, a panel of five city jurors on Wednesday handed activist Antonio Buehler a legal victory, deliberating nearly six hours before acquitting him of failing to comply with the order of an officer in a controversial arrest on New Year’s Day 2012. Buehler, a 37-year-old Army veteran and outspoken [...]
Lubbock police: No more blanket policy on identifying officers in shootings
By Gabriel Monte Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Originally published Oct. 25, 2014 In an effort to protect the safety of officers and their families, Lubbock Police Department officials are moving away from a blanket policy of identifying officers involved in a shooting. Greg Stevens, Lubbock police assistant chief, said the decision was made after asking police officials from other Texas cities about their policies regarding identifying officers. “The leading answer was: We [...]
Dallas Morning News sues DA Craig Watkins over release of documents
By Sarah Mervosh The Dallas Morning News Originally published Oct. 23, 2014 The Dallas Morning News sued Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins on Thursday in an attempt to obtain documents about how Watkins has spent public money. The newspaper asked a state district judge to order Watkins to turn over public documents after the district attorney refused to release them in the time frame outlined by state law, according [...]
FOI experts share tips for smoother access to public information
By Kelley Shannon FOI Foundation of Texas Executive Director ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The National Freedom of Information Coalition Summit this week featured a discussion with journalists, attorneys and open government advocates on how to write better public information requests and how to overcome barriers to access. Participating panelists were Florida journalist Kris Hundley; Thomas Susman, director of governmental affairs for the American Bar Association; Shane Shifflett, developer of FOIA [...]
Fifty groups push Obama on FOIA legislation proposed by Cornyn, Leahy
By Mario Trujillo The Hill Originally published Oct. 23, 2014 A coalition of 50 groups urging more government transparency called on President Obama to publicly support legislation that would reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The conglomerate — including government watchdogs, civil liberties groups and media advocacy groups — wants a commitment that a number of reforms will remain in place after the president leaves office. "Only statutory [...]