Kelley Shannon. Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas

By Kelley Shannon Executive Director FOI Foundation of Texas Every week, government officials across Texas and private companies receiving taxpayer dollars get increasingly creative in hiding public records. Their new tool is the Boeing ruling, a decision from the Texas Supreme Court that lowered the threshold for arguing competitive bidding as an exemption from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act. It gives governments an easier path to claim that competitive bidding concerns should allow them to keep records secret. And, businesses can now make the claim, too. Those attempting to censor records under Boeing have sought approximately 1,500 rulings from [...]