{"id":23,"date":"2021-04-28T11:11:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T11:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/txsunshine.org\/?p=23"},"modified":"2021-04-28T11:11:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T11:11:29","slug":"texas-house-committee-approves-two-major-open-government-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/txsunshine.org\/?p=23","title":{"rendered":"Texas House Committee Approves Two Major Open Government Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Texas House State Affairs Committee unanimously approved two bills Wednesday addressing governments that quit responding to Texas Public Information Acts during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The panel approved House Bill 1416 by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, specifying which days are to be counted as business days for purposes of the Public Information Act. Currently, the law doesn\u2019t define TPIA business days. Many governments, citing long-ago attorney general guidance, decided on their own how to calculate business days when the pandemic set in. The legislation next moves to the full House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee members also voted in favor of House Bill 3627 by Chairman Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, which clarifies 2019 legislation allowing governments to file \u201ccatastrophe notices\u201d with the attorney general\u2019s office when a disaster prevents them from responding to Public Information Act requests. The notice allows a seven-day halt to TPIA responses. In some situations, a government can file for another seven-day extension but that is the limit. The bill now heads to the full House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Texas Public Policy Foundation hosted this online event on March 18, 2021, during Sunshine Week 2021. Click here to watch \u201cSunshine Week 2021: Regaining Trust in Texas Government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas was pleased to participate, along with other transparency advocates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conservatives optimistic, too<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Quintero<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Quintero is director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation\u2019s Center for Local Governance, which is concerned with issues such as the state\u2019s dependence on property taxes and an \u201calarming amount of debt\u201d accumulated by cities, counties, and other taxing entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quintero said, \u201cI\u2019m bullish on the prospect of passing significant legislation expanding government transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernment secrecy is a bipartisan problem,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Texas Public Policy Foundation wants taxpayers to have the ability to see where their tax dollars are going. In the absence of strong transparency requirements it\u2019s impossible to hold our elected officials accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be part of a coalition to reverse course on Texas Supreme Court decisions, Boeing and Greater Houston Partnership,\u201d Quintero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter case reversed lower court decisions and ruled that the Greater Houston Partnership, a nonprofit corporation that provides economic development services to the City of Houston, was not a \u201cgovernmental body\u201d under the Texas Public Information Act because it is not wholly or partially sustained by public funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just blowing smoke,\u201d Quintero said. \u201cI think we have an excellent chance of passage. It\u2019s been good to see people who we don\u2019t normally agree with come out of the woodwork and be on same page with us on how things ought to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not going to be a cake walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we are going to see a lot of fierce opposition on these issues, but primarily behind closed doors, because it\u2019s hard to go out and argue in public setting that taxpayers shouldn\u2019t know how their money is being spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last session, opponents used back-channel methods to stall and defeat our legislation,\u201d Quintero said. \u201cBut our coalition has learned a few good lessons about tactics of the other side and we\u2019re coming in this session more prepared to handle these tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Texas House State Affairs Committee unanimously approved two bills Wednesday addressing governments that quit responding to Texas Public Information Acts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel approved House Bill 1416 by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, specifying which days are to be counted as business days for purposes of the Public Information Act. Currently, the … <\/p>\n

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