Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (FOIFT) – Page 2 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

TX: Want Basic Public Records Out of Alamo Colleges? That’ll Be $2,300

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Just last year, Alamo Colleges was lauded by the state comptroller's office for its "financial transparency," winning an award for how easy the community college system supposedly makes it for taxpayers to understand how their money's being spent.

Which is odd considering the $2,340 bill the college system recently sent to a reporter asking for some of the most basic public records, information routinely requested by government watchdogs: taxpayer-funded travel records.

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Texas court mulls ‘magic words’ loophole for transparency law

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The Supreme Court of Texas heard arguments Wednesday on whether to write a loophole into state public records law that would allow government agencies to avoid public scrutiny and disregard basic public records procedures simply by invoking “magic words.”

The court could also decide to eliminate a previous loophole it created, but most of its public records decisions in recent years have favored government secrecy over the transparency that Texas law used to be known for.

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Headliners Foundation of Texas announces FOI grants program

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The Headliners Foundation of Texas has embarked on a one-year pilot program of grants to reimburse small-market and community news organizations in Texas for extraordinary expenses charged by governmental bodies for Open Records searches.

The grant application process will open September 6, 2016, and will continue until the 2016 Foundation funding for the grants is awarded.

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TX: Victoria Advocate wins award for open government work

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The Victoria Advocate has won the Spirit of FOI Award for its in-depth look at questionable hiring in the county sheriff's office.

The investigation was conducted using documents obtained using the Texas Public Information Act.

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TX: Open Government Advocates Call For Fix To Public Records Issue

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Open government advocates want lawmakers to fix what they call a loophole in the state’s Public Information Act.

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Texas High Court Carves “Monstrous Loophole” for Government Secrets

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Thanks to the Texas Supreme Court, McAllen taxpayers cannot find out how much their city paid Enrique Iglesias to belt out his Latin pop lyrics at a holiday parade.

And Houston cannot release, among other information, how many driver permits it has issued to ride-hailing giant Uber.

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Texas: Silencing the public? City removes comments

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Citizens aren’t being allowed to speak up at City Commission meetings.

At least not until officials review alternatives to the public comment period, or citizen communication, which allows citizens to speak before commissioners for up to two minutes. Continue…

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Texas: Open-government advocates cheer bills passed by Legislature

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AUSTIN – A measure that would make private university police reports subject to Texas' open-government laws was one of a number of transparency measures approved by the Legislature this session.

Senate Bill 308, authored by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, was filed in response to a student who was fatally shot by University of Incarnate Word police officers in San Antonio, and another incident at Rice University.

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Texas: Open-government advocates cheer bills passed by Legislature

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AUSTIN – A measure that would make private university police reports subject to Texas' open-government laws was one of a number of transparency measures approved by the Legislature this session.

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GUEST VIEW: Open government essential to a democracy

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Defending the U.S. Constitution is popular these days, when it centers on gun rights, states’ rights or search and seizure protections.

As we guard the principles of our nation’s founders, let’s not overlook the all-important First Amendment of the Constitution and its guarantee of free speech and free press, which, along with public access to government information, are crucial to our democracy.

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