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 [...]
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 [...]