With looming deadlines threatening to kill a slew of proposals aimed at bolstering access to public records in Texas, a state senator on Thursday muscled them closer to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk — all at once.
Sen. Kirk Watson’s maneuver came as senators took up an open records bill that had already cleared the House: Watson and Rep. Eddie Lucio’s House Bill 2328, which would give government entities — with employees trained in open records law — an option to expedite information requests under Texas public records law.
Watson attached, through floor amendments, key provisions from several other transparency bills (some of them his own) that had languished in the House Committee on Government Transparency and Operation, chaired by Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston.