A Couple of interesting changes in the Texas Lege in 2019 re: Public CommentsSomervell County Salon-Glen Rose, Rainbow, Nemo, Glass....Texas


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A Couple of interesting changes in the Texas Lege in 2019 re: Public Comments
 


2 December 2019 at 9:32:49 AM
salon

First, examining which local governmental entities have Public Comments on their agendas, perhaps not on special meetings but on regular meetings.

Somervell County Commissioners Court-NO public comment item on the agenda., agenda example from the Nov 2019 regular meeting. I wrote about this before in Feb 2017.

City of Glen Rose Town Council - Yes, has public comments on the agenda-agenda example from the 2019 regular meetings

Glen Rose ISD Yes, has public comments on the agenda, example from the November 2019 regular meeting. 

Somervell County Water District has public comments on the agenda, example from the November 2019 regular meeting. 

Somervell County Hospital District Yes, public comments although they're at the end of the agenda - example from Sept 2019 meeting. 

Public comments, in my opinion, should be part of a regular meeting agenda, in that any comment that can be addressed to the elected officials, even if time constrained, can be made on any topic. What used not to be able to be done was to make a public comment about something on the agenda itself. Some entities, such as the City of Glen Rose, allowed for public comments before a particular agenda item was voted on. This always seemed inclusive to me.

What happened in the Texas Legislature this year? Apparently some government entities wanted to stop public comment at meetings. This included, as per the Texas Monitor, Amarillo City Council, Hidalgo County, City of McAllen, etc. So, this year the Texas Lege passed a law requiring that ALL local governments allow public comments before votes are taken on agenda items. I don't think in reading the law that this also requires a general public comment section, although I don't know why elected governmental entities responsive and responsible to the public wouldn't have one on their agendas. But it does allow comment on specific agenda items before a vote.  Here's another take on this. 

 


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