GUEST EDITORIAL
As we watch over our government, it’s often about the money.
Are taxpayer dollars being spent wisely on social programs, road projects and employee pay? Can we view government contracts with outside organizations? What are the details of bond proposals on the election ballot?
Long-established state open government laws – the Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act – help us answer these questions and root out malfeasance. As we celebrate national Sunshine Week March 15-21 let’s recognize our transparency laws and learn how to keep them strong.
Beyond detecting financial waste and fraud, journalists and vigilant citizens are using these laws to retrieve videos related to suspected crimes against kids, to identify finalists for top jobs in cities and school districts and to review the emergency response after the tragic Hill Country floods.
The Texas Public Information Act and the Open Meetings Act are more than 50 years old and continue to be adapted to modern times and troubles.
Open government advocates worked with legislators last year to establish stricter requirements for public officials responding to records requests. There are now more consequences when a government ignores a request.
Another new law requires public meeting notices to be posted at least three business days, rather than 72 hours, before the meeting. That prevents a notice from getting overlooked if it is first posted on a weekend. This common-sense law also specifies that if a budget is to be considered at the meeting a copy of that proposed budget must be posted for public view in advance.
There’s always more work to do to better equip citizens and to prevent public officials from eroding transparency laws through loopholes and game-playing.
Those who must resort to lawsuits to force the release of public information deserve reimbursement for attorneys’ fees if they win the case. Governments that hire private lawyers to handle public records requests need to disclose who those attorneys are and how much they are paying them. And there should be penalties for governments that abuse Texas’ attorney general open records ruling system.
The attorney general’s office serves as an umpire of sorts, issuing rulings when governments want to try to withhold information. State law presumes records are open unless an exception in the law allows them to be kept secret. A government generally cannot withhold information on its own and must ask permission from the attorney general’s open records division to do so.
Unfortunately, many request rulings even if the information is clearly public and should have been released promptly. Bad faith ruling requests add to the attorney general’s workload and cause weeks or months of delays for requestors.
Finally, charges for public records can be excessive, sometimes reaching thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. If an estimated charge is too high, it can deter a requestor from pursuing the inquiry, letting the government off the hook and keeping information hidden. In some cases, requestors are required to pay the cost up front, then the government seeks to withhold that information by asking for an attorney general ruling. That means the requestor’s money sits in the government’s bank account for weeks or months until a decision is made.
In so many ways, money plays a role in open government. It’s crucial to follow the finances and stand staunchly against all kinds of waste and abuse.
Protecting the free flow of information helps ensure that government answers to its citizens.
Kelley Shannon is executive director of the Austinbased nonprofit Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
