House support strong; Senate allowed open government bills to languish. (posted May 31, 2021)
Throughout this legislative session, our state league supported and worked closely with the Transparency and Open Government Coalition (TAG) on a myriad of bills that would have required all public entities to be transparent in all of its actions.
Two of those bills have been signed by the Governor: SB 930 (allowing families of nursing home residents to have more information about their loved ones) and SB 1225 (catastrophe notice reform to avoid abuse). They will both become law on September 1, 2021. SB 930 was authored by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (with co-author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst) and House Sponsor Rep. Mayes Middleton (with Joint Sponsor Rep. Toni Rose). SB 1225 was authored by Sen. Joan Huffman and House sponsor Chairman Chris Paddie (and Joint Sponsors Richard Raymond and Terry Canales).
Below is a recap of open government bills supported in the House that simply stalled out in the Senate.
HB 1416 (requiring skeleton crews to have functional governments) died when it did not receive a hearing in the Senate Business and Commerce Committee (Senate B&C). Sponsors were Rep. Gio Capriglione/Sen. Zaffirini). Reps. Phil King, Raymond, Canales and Sam Harless all signed on.
HB 1810 (providing for searchable/sortable electronic records) died when it did not receive a hearing in Senate B&C. Sponsors were Rep. Gio Capriglione and Sen. Nathan Johnson.. Rep. Celia Israel signed on.
HB 3015 (enforcement of the required response for public documents in a timely way) died when it did not receive a hearing in Senate B&C. Sponsors were Rep. Ana Hernandez and Sen. Zaffirini. Rep. Ana-Maria signed on.
HB 3535 (providing that dates of birth are made public) died when it did not receive a hearing in Senate B&C. Sponsors were Chairman Todd Hunter and Sen. Zaffirini.
Frustratingly, HB 2683 (providing public access to remote meetings) which was the first bill to make it to the Senate; however it was never referred to committee. Sponsors were Chairman Canales/Sen. Zaffirini). Rep. Art Fierro, Bobby Guerra and Eddie Morales also signed on..
Finally, HB 2913 (requiring all government contracts to be posted online)never got a committee hearing in either chamber. Sponsors were Rep. Capriglione and /Sen. Zaffirini.
The TAG Coalition sums it up well when it says, “As disappointing as it has been to not see some of our major agenda items advance in the Senate, we played some incredible defense on measures that would have substantially compromised the TPIA and harmed the public’s right to know.”