AUSTIN — Recent rulings by the Texas Supreme Court have hidden records long regarded as public, such as contracts between a governmental body and a private business, and have contributed to growing secrecy about how state and local authorities spend your tax dollars.
Troubled by that trend, a Republican in the House and a Democrat in the Senate will file bills Tuesday to strengthen the state's open records law. The Texas Public Information Act was once touted as among the strongest in the nation, but recent court rulings and decades of attorney general opinions have chipped away at it.
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, are carrying the identical bills, which will take aim at two rulings open government experts say advance corporate interests at the expense of the public interest.
A 2015 San Antonio case involving aerospace giant Boeing Co. has allowed companies and individuals holding government contracts to block disclosure of the terms by claiming it would give an advantage to competitors.
That same year, the Greater Houston Partnership was allowed to block release of information regarding its contracts to perform government services.
The identical bills from Capriglione and Watson — HB792 and 793, and SB407 and 408 — would restore taxpayers’ ability to know how their money is being spent.
