Transparency bills are moving forward in the Texas Legislature with bipartisan support to promote open government and correct public information access problems that arose amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
With about five weeks left in the legislative session, here’s a status report on bills backed by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, the Texas Press Association, the Texas Association of Broadcasters and other members of the Transparent and Accountable Government Coalition:
Texas Open Meeting Act improvements
House Bill 2683 by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, won unanimous approval in the Texas House of Representatives. It addresses online meetings allowed under the Texas Open Meetings Act. Though the virtual meetings provision of the law worked well for many governments during the pandemic, in some cases rules for public comment were unfairly imposed and telephone call-in lines were not provided to accommodate those without Internet. HB 2683 corrects those problems. It now moves to the Senate.