Shining Light in Texas

Violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act are hardly capital crimes; until recently, the rules were rarely even enforced ["The Endless Struggle Over Open Meetings," December 1997]. But expansions of the laws and increasing attention from prosecutors have resulted in action. The state recorded its first conviction under its Public Information Act against a county school superintendent last summer. That case was prosecuted by the state attorney general's office, which recently hired the first lawyer dedicated to prosecuting violations of the statutes.

The increased attention to the open-government laws by the attorney general's office has filtered through the state; the open-records division chief says that inquiries and complaints have more than doubled since 1999. Local prosecutors have stepped up their efforts as well: Two Montgomery County hospital board and four Joshua City Council members have been indicted for open-meetings violations.

State Senator Jeff Wentworth worked for seven years to close a loophole in the Open Meetings Act that allowed boards to meet in executive session for any reason, as long as staff members were present and no votes were taken--and finally succeeded in toughening the law in 1999. What makes for an executive session is more narrowly defined--a quorum can exist even at a Dairy Queen--although there are still allowances for discussing issues of personnel, real estate purchases, litigation and public safety.

Wentworth is pleased with the new emphasis on openness, noting that "it's fundamental to the confidence in our government that citizens know that the records and meetings of their officials belong to them."