The silly constitutional challenge to open meetings law in Texas may never end…

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

It’s a fundamental flaw in the fabric of FOI: requesters stonewalled by government agencies square off with taxpayer-funded lawyers with all the time in the world on their hands… Signaling their intention to go to court forever to withhold information from the public, lawyers for 15 city officials begin today trying to convince the 5th [...]

Filed under: 3. Access law, Open meetings laws | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Mugshot Publications: A Tough FOI Issue

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Charles N. Davis

This one is a bit difficult for me, until I place the situation into abstract First Amendment doctrine: these sites are acquiring public records, legally, of photos made, then publishing them. Yes, there are ample grounds here to debate the ethics of such publications, and the take-down fees are another matter altogether. But trying to [...]

Filed under: 2. Doc state of mind, 4. Finding records | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

FOI AT Work: Texas TV Station Obtains Police Chase Video

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

KLTV 7 has obtained dramatic dash-cam video of Smith County authorities chasing a man in a stolen Tyler police car. After making numerous requests though the Freedom of Information Act, we were able to obtain the thirty-minute video of that May pursuit. The chase started on Highway 155 in Noonday after 24-year-old Isaac Garcia attempted to rob two [...]

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Keeping Austin Weird…

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

From a great NYT profile on Austin-based anarchist (can an anarchist really have a base?) Scott Crow… Blogged here by Reason: Mr. Crow, a lanky Texas native who works at a recycling center, is one of several Austin activists who asked the F.B.I. for their files, citing the Freedom of Information Act. The 440 heavily-redacted [...]

Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind, 4. Finding records | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Oh, Good. Secret Police! Just What We Need. Banana Republic, Anyone?

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

From Texas, quite possibly the worst FOI exemption of the year! The Texas Senate approved legislation Tuesday banning the release of police officers’ photos in most cases, a bill open government advocates opposed. House Bill 2006, by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, next heads to Gov. Rick Perry. It specifies that an officer’s photo can be released [...]

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Federal Judge: Texas Open Meetings Act Does Not Violate First Amendment Rights of Officials!

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

I am completely digging transparency as a “compelling government interest”! A federal judge upheld the constitutionality of the Texas Open Meetings Act on Friday in a long-running case originally filed by members of the Alpine City Council. Council members from 11 cities later joined the case, including Mel LeBlanc of Arlington. U.S. District Judge Robert [...]

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Texas, Taking a Bit of A Different Take than Utah…

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

A Texas lawmaker wants to ban e-mails, text messages and Internet postings by city and state leaders when they are doing the public’s business. A bill by Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi would amend the Texas Open Meetings Act. The proposal, H.B. 2977, says an official would be committing an offense if he or she [...]

Filed under: 3. Access law, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Austin Wrestles With E-Mail and FOI

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Charles N. Davis

The Austin American Statesman had an interesting piece on e-mail access: Worried that Austin City Council members may not have turned over all of their emails, officials are bringing in city technology experts as they make a new attempt at complying with the state’s open records law. Information technology workers are compiling the records — [...]

Filed under: 4. Finding records, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

An indictment for sharing information?

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Charles N. Davis

Image via Wikipedia This is an incredible story… A Nueces County grand jury on Friday indicted the executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards on two felony counts related to the release of information about an inmate suicide. Adan Munoz, 62, was indicted on two counts of misuse of official information, according to [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

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