Commentary: Shine a light on government

11 hours ago 24

What unites Texans of all political persuasions is the nonpartisan principle that our government must operate in the sunlight.

We have the right — and responsibility — to keep watch on how tax money is spent and how public officials make decisions. But it takes access to information to do it.

Our state transparency laws envision citizens having power over government. Every legislative session, updates and improvements are needed so that the Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act function as intended.

The Texas Sunshine Coalition, representing 16 organizations with varying interests, works to protect the public’s right to know. Supporters of the coalition testified this month before a key Texas House committee on enhancing public information laws. As we embark on national Sunshine Week, March 16-22, and call attention to open government, let’s embrace these bipartisan sunshine proposals in the Texas Legislature:

Enforcement. When governments don’t respond to information requestors or don’t provide all the releasable records, common sense enforcement is necessary in the Public Information Act. Requestors deserve a solid system for filing complaints with the attorney general, and government officials found to have acted wrongly should face consequences such as additional open government training. Senate Bill 919 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and House Bill 4219 by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, would achieve this.

If a requestor must file a lawsuit to force release of information, there should be a way to recover attorneys’ fees if the requestor prevails. Texas appellate court decisions have made that difficult, allowing governments to hand over records at the last minute — often after costly litigation — and avoid paying legal fees. Those who successfully sue a government to obtain information need to recover attorneys’ fees or, as Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, recently pointed out, “that’s not a fair fight.” Pending legislation would clarify legal fee provisions. SB 824 by Middleton, HB 2248 by Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, and SB 1291 by Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, address the issue.

User friendly Initiatives. Legislative proposals to help citizens and governments better use and carry out the Public Information Act include requiring that the attorney general’s office operates a toll-free open government hotline; ensuring that the government official or outside legal counsel who responds to citizens’ requests completes open government training; and allowing for mediation between a requestor and a government. These are contained in SB 1294 and SB 1295 by Johnson and SB 1130 by Middleton.

Disclosing basic information. Some governments store information in electronic spreadsheets but convert these documents to PDF images before producing them to the public. This conversion is unnecessary and makes it difficult to search and sort information. The attorney general’s office has recommended producing documents in their original format, including spreadsheets. SB 50 by Zaffirini and HB 4218 by Capriglione would place this in law.

Ensuring that dates of birth are available in public records helps verify the identification of people with common names, whether in news reporting on crime or background checks conducted by lenders, landlords and employers. Dates of birth on applications by candidates for office help voters understand who is on the ballot. Birthdate disclosure is done in patchwork fashion across Texas following an Austin appellate court ruling a few years ago. HB 3719 by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, and SB 1293 by Johnson would eliminate confusion and restore access to this basic information.

All these sunshine proposals center on preserving our rights, and the free flow of information goes hand in hand with the First Amendment liberty to freely speak out about government.

“It’s about truth,” Middleton said, noting the Texas Public Information Act states that citizens grant powers to the government, not the other way around. “The rights belong to the people.”

Kelley Shannon is executive director of the nonprofit Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, based in Austin.