AUSTIN, Texas — On Thursday, Texas lawmakers filed a major new open government bill aimed at closing a loophole in the Texas Public Information Act and giving the public better access to information on how taxpayers’ money is spent.
Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, and Rep Giovanni Capriglione, a Southlake Republican, filed Senate Bill 943 and House Bill 2189, respectively. The bills would undo much of 2015 Supreme Court decision Boeing vs. Paxton, which critics say allows governments and their contractors to not report basic records about how taxpayer money is spent.
The Senate bill is a re-worked version of Sen. Watson’s 2017 bill, which failed to get a House committee hearing amid opposition from business interests.
“This session we’re coming back with an even larger and more diverse coalition, with a proposal that protects businesses’ proprietary information without sacrificing the public’s right to know how their tax dollars are spent,” Sen. Watson said in a statement on Thursday.
The legislation is the result of consultation with the Texas Sunshine Coalition, a group formed in the last interim to advocate for greater government transparency.
“We are thankful for this thoughtful legislation to repair the Public Information Act,” said Kelley Shannon, executive director of Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “Texans deserve the ability to see how their taxpayer dollars are spent and keep a watch on their government.”
The 2015 ruling expanded a Public Information Act provision allowing for stronger protections of so-called trade secrets and proprietary information of private government contractors. That meant companies could withhold information such as the amount of taxpayer money paid to vendors.
The bill is expected to face opposition in the House by some of the same interests that opposed the 2017 bill, with pressure against the bill coming from the Texas Association of Business, which believes it could discourage businesses from working with the government.
But the legislation has been welcomed by the more than 15 groups in the Texas Sunshine Coalition.
“Transparency is necessary to accountability and having trust in our government,” said First Amendment attorney Laura Prather.
The bill will likely be sent to the House State Affairs Committee chaired by Beaumont Republican Rep. Dade Phelan.
