2013 Bernard and Audre Rapoport State Conference – Book Your Room Now!
The 2013 Bernard and Audre Rapoport State Conference is set for Friday, Aug. 9, at the Sheraton Austin – Capitol located at 701 E. 11th St. Conference in downtown Austin. Registration will open soon; meanwhile, if you’d like to come in early, on Thursday, Aug. 8, you can book a room now at the low rate of $159. If you’d like to stay the weekend – Friday, Aug. 9 and/or Saturday, Aug. 10 — the same rate will [...]
HB 1331: Trouble Shooter testifies on open government bill
From News 4 San Antonio SAN ANTONIO – Here at News 4 San Antonio we believe you have the right to know what your government is up to, and how it spends your tax dollars. Legislation being considered up in Austin would block you from seeing the activity of a very important state agency. News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila was asked to testify on the bill and explains what [...]
Critical Thinking: Why Should Governments Continue to Post Public Notices in Newspapers?
by: Nu Yang Editor & Publisher Originally published April 16, 2013 Q: What would be your strongest argument for why governments should continue to post public notices in newspapers? Alison Noon, 20, Junior, University of Colorado, Boulder Noon is studying journalism and political science. She is an editor and reporter at CU Independent, CU’s only student news outlet. She is an intern reporter at The Greeley Tribune in northern Colorado, [...]
Legislative Update: 2013 session
A significant open government bill approved in the 2013 legislative session expands the definition of public information in the Texas Public Information Act to include electronic communications created by, received by, or maintained by a public officer or employee connected to official business and stored on any device. Lawmakers also approved several other government transparency bills. Legislative Update: 2013 Session, Laura Prather, Thomas Williams, [...]
New laws protecting Texas newsrooms passed from 2009 to 2013
Over the three legislative sessions from 2009 to 2013, newsrooms have gained significantly greater protections under Texas law. Texas became the 37th state to enact a reporter's privilege law in 2009. In 2011, the Legislature joined 27 other states in adopting an anti-SLAPP statute providing for dismissal of meritless lawsuits brought against those exercising their free speech rights. In 2013, Texas became the 32nd state to enact a retraction statute enabling [...]
LAST CALL for entries for Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award Nominations!
Submit your 2013 Spirit of FOI Award nominations Monday, April 8, is the deadline for electronic submission of entries for the 2013 Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award, which this year for the first time will recognize work in three divisions. Sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Press Association and named after FOIFT’s former executive director, the award recognizes journalists and/or newspapers for outstanding [...]
Court Declines to Hear Texas Open Meetings Appeal
Originally published March 25, 2013 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal challenging the Texas Open Meetings Act, keeping intact the law that bans government officials from talking business in informal settings. Officials from 15 cities in Texas challenged the law in 2009, saying they supported open government but that the law banned such behavior as simply talking to a colleague about [...]
Call for Entries | 2013 Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award
Submit your 2013 Spirit of FOI Award nominations Monday, April 8, is the deadline for electronic submission of entries for the 2013 Nancy Monson Spirit of FOI Award, which this year for the first time will recognize work in three divisions. Sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Press Association and named after FOIFT’s former executive director, the award recognizes journalists and/or newspapers for outstanding [...]
Restrict employers’ social media access
Express-News Editorial Board Updated Wednesday, February 13, 2013 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other networking websites are great social media tools that allow us to keep up with friends, family and colleagues. They also have created a gray area in employment law that needs some clarification. At least four different bills have been filed in Austin this legislative session seeking to maintain employee privacy when it comes to their social media [...]
Information blackout on Texas public pensions must end
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally posted Feb. 13, 2013 By now, it should be clear to every member of the Legislature, even the new ones, that HB2460 should not have been approved two years ago. The bill, written by then-Rep. Vicki Truitt of Keller, dropped a curtain of secrecy around information about public retirement funds in Texas. Pretty much, it said the people who run those funds, not the attorney general [...]
Universities might have to limit monitoring, set social media policies in stone under proposal
By Jody Serrano American-Statesman Staff Originally published Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013 In an age when voluntarily sharing one’s intimate information on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites is common, a proposal to limit what content universities have access to seems out of step. But state Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, said there should be a limit to the power university administrators have over students in Texas, where there is no [...]
Open books on legislative pensions
By Editorial Board, Austin American-Statesman Originally posted Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 Asked if she recalls voting on bills that would keep Texas taxpayers from knowing how much is spent on legislative pensions, State Rep. Donna Howard replied that she doesn’t. Howard, an Austin Democrat who took office in 2006, wryly noted that the legislation to deprive voters of such information wouldn’t have been announced in big, bold letters well in [...]
Transparency buzz elicits some action at the Capitol
By Tim Eaton Austin American-Statesman Staff Originally published February 9, 2013 Should Texans know how much the state pays lawmakers in retirement? Is it OK for private foundations to supplement the salaries of state workers? Would government work better if voters knew how much debt it had before they are asked to approve more? These and other questions about government transparency have been bouncing around the state Capitol in recent [...]
More heat than light from CPRIT hearings
By Laylan Copelin American-Statesman Staff Originally published Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 There is always bit of a lynch mob mentality when Texas lawmakers go after a Capitol scandal. So it was last week for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the small state agency created to manage a $3 billion, 10-year effort to fund scientists and organizations looking for cures and treatments for various cancers. Lawmakers had “invited” [...]
Transparency buzz elicits some action at the Capitol
By Tim Eaton, American-Statesman Staff Originally posted Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 Should Texans know how much the state pays lawmakers in retirement? Is it OK for private foundations to supplement the salaries of state workers? Would government work better if voters knew how much debt it had before they are asked to approve more? These and other questions about government transparency have been bouncing around the state Capitol in recent [...]
Advocates hope this is the year for tighter ethics laws at Texas Capitol
By Kelley Shannon Austin Bureau, Dallas Morning News [email protected] Originally published 08 February 2013 AUSTIN — Dozens of new lawmakers, voter frustration with government and conflict-of-interest questions at a cancer-fighting agency could make conditions ripe for changes in Texas ethics laws this year. Ethics watchdogs and legislators who want to limit lobbying by former lawmakers and expand financial disclosures for public officials acknowledge it won’t be easy, but they hope [...]
Senator seeks DA’s help in fight over cancer records
By Laylan Copelin American-Statesman Staff Originally published Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, has asked Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to intervene in Davis’ attempt to obtain records from a foundation supporting the state’s troubled cancer agency. Davis filed a civil complaint Friday, asking Lehmberg to determine that the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Foundation is a government body subject to the state’s [...]
State senator calls for state audit of LCRA
By Asher Price American-Statesman Staff Originally published Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 A state senator whose district includes the Highland Lakes filed legislation Friday that would require the state auditor to review the books and operations of the Lower Colorado River Authority. State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, has frequently warred with the nonprofit, quasi-state utility, which sells water and electricity used in the homes of more than a million Central [...]
“Transparency is good, even if not always useful”
By MIKE NORMAN [email protected] Originally posted Thursday, Feb. 07, 2013 There was irony all over the place just outside the Senate Chamber in Austin Thursday as some top state leaders announced proposed legislation to force greater transparency in Texas local government finances. The Legislature is not always the most transparent government body, nor are many of its members averse to hiding what they don’t want known. Take this from House [...]
TOMA case may get Supreme Court review – “We’re Only Challenging Jail Time”
By ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN Originally posted January 10th, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC – The legal drama over the Texas Open Meetings Act has taken another turn as attorneys on behalf of the plaintiffs suing Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott have filed a petition to have the Supreme Court of the United States review the case. Plaintiff’s attorneys filed the petition for writ of certiorari on Thursday, December 20, seeking the Supreme [...]