The legislation pushes back against two 2015 Texas Supreme Court rulings that have enabled private companies involved with government contracts to keep parts of those contracts secret.
Public Information Act
Posted in
State Government
Businesses oppose legislation limiting public information exemptions
Businesses opposed SB 407 and SB 408 at a public hearing, arguing that open records requests could put them at a competitive disadvantage.
Posted inState Government
Texas High Court Ruling Shields Contract Details
A recent ruling by the Texas Supreme Court has made it easier for private companies to keep secret details of their contracts with the state of Texas and local governments, a move that public information advocates warn is ripe for abuse.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribLive: Houston on Open Government
At our 10/16 TribLive conversation, Sam Houston, the Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General in 2014, talked about how he’d respond to open records requests.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Senate Committee Hears Testimony on Open Records Law
The Senate Committee on Open Government heard testimony Monday surrounding the Texas Public Information Act. Among the discussions was one focused on reducing “frivolous and overly burdensome” requests.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Dallas Suburbs Lead State in Attempts to Deny Information Requests
Among the state’s biggest cities, several Dallas-area suburbs tallied the highest rate of requests to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott last year to keep government information secret, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
When It Comes to Transparency, There’s Room for Improvement
Lawmakers say they want transparency and that the public should be able to see their finances. But state requirements allow officeholders to report their financial interests vaguely enough to hide conflicts.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas Gets a D+ in Public Integrity Study
Texas has scored a 68 out of 100, placing 27th in a national state integrity study. The state got high marks for auditing and for monitoring pension funds, but not as high for accountability of the governor and legislators.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
10 Most-Viewed Data Apps of 2011: Salaries, Prisons, Public Schools
As it has since the Trib’s launch in 2009, data continued to reign supreme on the site in 2011. Today, we take a look at the 10 most-visited data apps since Jan. 1.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on Rick Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund, Aguliar on the DOJ’s Joe Arpaio problem, Galbraith on the uncertainty about Texas’ electric grid, Grissom and Schwartz of The New York Times on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton on the first leg of Perry’s Iowa bus tour, Murphy and McLain unveil our new campaign finance database, Ramsey et al. go live with the first round of our 2012 election brackets, Root on a GOP rival’s queries about Perry’s pension play, M. Smith contrasts the various school finance lawsuits and Tan, Dehn and Murphy on a shortage of mental health professionals: The best of our best content from December 19-23, 2011.