FOI Spotlight: House committee hears testimony on ‘dark money’
By Kelley Shannon FOI Foundation of Texas Executive Director AUSTIN _ Texans have the right "to make a very informed decision" when choosing their elected officials, the chairman of the House State Affairs Committee said Thursday during a hearing on what to do about tracking so-called dark money in campaigns. "This affects their voting decisions," said Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, who chairs the State Affairs Committee, which held a hearing [...]
Registration open for FOIFT annual conference
Registration is open for the FOI Foundation's Bernard and Audre Rapoport annual conference taking place in Austin on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014. Sessions are expected to address access to courts; best practices in public records requests; and upcoming open government efforts in the Legislature. The John Henry Faulk Luncheon taking place during the conference will feature presentation of the FOIFT's James Madison Award and the State Bar's Gavel Awards. Click [...]
Court ruling gets audit a step closer to becoming public
By Stevie Poole A-J Media Originally published April 28, 2014 A story more than a decade in the making is a step closer to being told. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear a case HealthSmart Holdings Inc. initiated, hoping to keep an audit of Lubbock’s former insurance administrator private. “If they did decline to hear it and if it has been determined that the audit needs to [...]
Open Government Seminar heads to Houston this week
The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is hosting an Open Government Seminar in Houston this Wednesday, April 30, in cooperation with the Attorney General's Office. FOIFT is offering these seminars throughout the state. The public is invited. Government officials can get state-required open government training credit, and attorneys can obtain Continuing Legal Education hours. Come learn more about the Texas Public Information Act and Texas Open Meetings Act at [...]
Dallas attorneys fight to keep records secret after missing deadlines
By Steve Thompson The Dallas Morning News Originally published April 22, 2014 Lawyers for the city of Dallas are taking on the Texas attorney general’s office in court, hoping to escape a penalty for missing deadlines triggered by public information requests. The outcome will have “a sweeping impact” on state open records law, a brief by the attorney general says. The city has a spotty record of handling public information [...]
Transparency committee to vote on impeachment recommendation in May
By Reeve Hamilton The Texas Tribune Originally published April 24, 2014 A legislative committee that is investigating University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall plans to vote at a hearing on May 12 whether to recommend articles of impeachment to the full House. If it requires more time, the vote may not come until May 13. The House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations met on Thursday for the [...]
Texas journalism colleagues, friends remember Ken Bunting
By Tim Madigan Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published April 21, 2014 On Saturday, former Star-Telegram Executive Editor Mike Blackman wrote briefly on Facebook about a young business acquaintance who had died unexpectedly. “To know that he is no longer with us is quite sad,” Blackman wrote. “I’m not a touchy-feely guy, but this is true — make amends, be patient and let others know how grateful you are to have [...]
Ken Bunting, former newspaper editor, leader of National FOI Coalition, dies at 65
By SeattlePI.com Staff Originally published April 21, 2014 Kenneth F. Bunting, a former top editor and associate publisher at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has died. The National Freedom of Information Coalition announced his death. Bunting, who was 65, died from a heart attack on Sunday in Columbia, Mo., it said. Bunting was executive director of the coalition, which is housed at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., from 2010 until earlier this year. "Even after [...]
Ex-town secretary sues, alleges she was fired for refusing to destroy recording
By Dianna Hunt Denton Record-Chronicle Originally published April 18, 2014 The former town secretary of Shady Shores has filed a lawsuit against the town, alleging she was fired because she refused orders to destroy a tape recording of a public meeting. The suit by Sarah Swanson accuses members of a Town Council subcommittee of violating state law by destroying the recording. Tampering with a government record, including the destruction or [...]
Paxton campaign reviewing disclosure lapses
By Jay Root The Texas Tribune Originally published April 21, 2014 State Sen. Ken Paxton, the leading Republican candidate for attorney general, has launched an internal review of his disclosures to state regulatory authorities and the Texas Ethics Commission to determine whether he violated any laws by failing to report several business and professional relationships. Paxton launched the review after The Texas Tribune obtained 2006 letters showing the McKinney lawmaker was being paid [...]
Transparency committee proceeds cautiously as emotions rise
By Reeve Hamilton The Texas Tribune Originally published April 17, 2014 On Wednesday morning, state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, found two fliers slipped under the door of his Capitol office calling for the resignation of embattled University Texas System Regent Wallace Hall. In large red letters, the fliers, which were also distributed to other lawmakers and posted around the University of Texas at Austin campus, declared, “We can’t let one man [...]
The Guardian US, Washington Post win Pulitzer for reporting on Snowden, NSA
By Dylan Byers Politico Originally published April 14, 2014 Edward Snowden didn’t win a Pulitzer on Monday, but he might as well have. In a move certain to be interpreted as a vindication of the former government contractor’s efforts, the Pulitzer Prize Board on Monday awarded The Guardian US and The Washington Post its coveted Public Service award for reporting on the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance practices. The award [...]
Houston Open Government Seminar, FOI info galore, April 30
By Mary Flood Houston Chronicle Originally published April 8, 2014 The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Attorney General’s Office will hold an Open Government Seminar in Houston Wednesday April 30 at South Texas College of Law. The morning training in the state’s public meetings and public records laws is free, starts at 9 am and is aimed at “government employees, journalists and members of the general [...]
Report: UT regent might have broken the law
By Nolan Hicks San Antonio Express-News Originally published April 7, 2014 SAN ANTONIO — University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall likely committed impeachable offenses — including abusing his office and possibly breaking state and federal law — in his campaign to oust University of Texas at Austin president Bill Powers, according to a draft report prepared for the Texas House committee investigating Hall. The 176-page draft, made available to [...]
Records show Texas transportation agency’s land deals under federal grand jury investigation
By Kevin Krause and Brandon Formby The Dallas Morning News Originally published April 7, 2014 The Texas Department of Transportation’s land purchases for the expansion of Interstate 35E in North Texas are part of a federal grand jury’s probe into potential criminal activity, according to state records obtained by The Dallas Morning News. The agency confirmed the federal investigation in a letter sent last month to the state attorney general’s office. [...]
Appeals court: One Texas execution back on schedule after drug secrecy debate
By Michael Graczyk The Associated Press Originally published April 2, 2014, in the Austin American-Statesman HOUSTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a ruling requiring the Texas prison system to disclose more information about where it gets lethal-injection drugs, reversing a judge who had halted an upcoming execution. Only hours before the appellate decision, a lower-court judge issued a temporary injunction halting the execution of Tommy Lynn [...]
Why Texas wants to keep secret its supplier of execution drugs
By Michael Graczyk Associated Press Originally published April 2, 2014 in The Christian Science Monitor HOUSTON - Texas is set to execute its first inmate with a new batch of drugs, but the state prison agency remains determined to keep its supplier a secret, citing threats of violence to pharmacies that sell drugs used in lethal injections. Since obtaining a new supply of the drug pentobarbital two weeks ago, the Texas Department [...]
DMN: Force elected officials to publicly vote on open records issues
By Scott K. Parks The Dallas Morning News Originally published March 31, 2014 Among friends, keeping secrets is a good thing. Not so much when it comes to governments keeping secrets from citizens. Local governments in North Texas have a penchant for secrecy. They routinely deny citizen requests for public records under a system that only a crook or a government-paid lawyer could love. First, a little background. The Texas [...]
FOI Foundation honors Robert and Maureen Decherd
G.J. McCarthy/Staff Photographer Maureen and Robert Decherd accepted the John Henry Faulk Award for Civic Virtue on Friday from Paul Watler of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. By Christina Rosales The Dallas Morning News Originally published March 28, 2014 Robert and Maureen Decherd received the John Henry Faulk Award for Civic Virtue Friday from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. The former chairman, president and chief executive [...]
Cornyn: Schumer doesn’t have votes for federal shield law
By Hadas Gold Politico Originally published March 27, 2014 Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) no longer has the votes to pass a proposed media shield law, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an interview this week. Speaking with Breitbart, Cornyn called the proposed shield law a "bad idea" that won't pass. “If he had the votes to pass it, it already would have been passed,” Cornyn said. “This isn’t about [...]