It’s been three years since Enrique Iglesias walked away from the Rio Grande Valley holding a proverbial sack full of taxpayer cash. He got the money in 2015 for crooning in the city of McAllen’s annual holiday concert and parade, a boondoggle that saw taxpayers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. City officials still refuse to tell […]
Read More… from In 2019, Another Chance to Fix the Texas Public Information Act
Judge Bobby Bell denied on Wednesday the Calhoun Port Authority’s latest motion to dismiss a Texas Open Meetings Act case filed by the Victoria Advocate. The newspaper claims the port should have written on the agenda for its May 9 meeting that it was going into closed session to discuss hiring former U.S. Congressman Blake […]
Read More… from Judge’s ruling keeps Texas open meetings lawsuit alive
Superintendent of Schools Kevin Smith recently testified at a Freedom of Information Commission hearing that the district “inadvertently” violated the Freedom of Information Act by failing to properly notice the public of preschool committee meetings. The hearing was held on Dec. 12, in response to a complaint Alex Ruskewich filed in February against the district […]
Read More… from Wilton (TX) school district admits to violating Freedom of Information Act
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.
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Read More… from Texas Senate unsticks proposals to plug public records “loopholes”
A Republican lawmaker has proposed a bill that would let Texas ignore public information requests from people who are not permanent residents of the state.
The Texas Public Information Act entitles any person, regardless of citizenship or residency, to obtain information about government agencies, public officials and government employees.
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Read More… from Lawmaker Wants Public Info Restricted to Texans
The Webb County Commissioners Court has joined over 90 counties across the state in opposing a state proposal that would provide public access to court documents online through a statewide database.
Concerns include sensitive information being released to the public and a loss of revenue to the county. The Webb County Clerk’s Office currently charges $1 per page for copies.
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Read More… from TX: Public access to records opposed by Webb County Commissioners
Texas court clerks are resisting a state proposal they say would strip them of their constitutional authority by making court documents available online for easy public access.
The statewide database, re:SearchTX, holds records from all 254 counties and is backed by the state’s Supreme Court. It currently is used by judges and soon will be available to attorneys and the public — who could search for civil court records and review them, all from the comfort of home.
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Read More… from Texas clerks look to derail web-based public access to court records
A pair of lawmakers filed bills Tuesday to lift the curtain of secrecy on taxpayer funds spent by private companies and organizations that was allowed by separate Texas Supreme Court decisions. The bills by state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would overturn provisions sanctioned by the high court that allowed final contract details and bids on public contracts to remain secret. The bills also would require disclosure of funding details to private organizations and entities in all cases, not just those sustained by public funds.
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Read More… from Texas Lawmakers file bills to eliminate loopholes in public info law
Faced with a rising death toll from opioid abuse, Texas public health officials in May decided to apply for a $1 million federal grant to purchase Naloxone, a drug that, if administered during an overdose, can save the life of a person addicted to heroin or pain pills.
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Read More… from Texas blows bid for funds to combat opioids, tries to keep records secret
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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Read More… from TX: Want Basic Public Records Out of Alamo Colleges? That’ll Be $2,300
