by Cobb & Counsel | Feb 6, 2023 | Bid Protests and Government Contracts, Public Information Act Requests
Members of the public have access to certain government contracting information, thanks to provisions in the Texas Government Code and the General Appropriations Act. Certain contracts are required to be reported to the Legislative Budget Board, which maintains an...
by Cobb & Counsel | Jan 18, 2023 | Public Information Act Requests
Serving in the Texas Legislature has its perks: free meals, a nice pension, and special access to government secrets. Under the Texas Public Information Act, legislators and legislative committees may obtain confidential information from governmental bodies if the...
by Cobb & Counsel | Nov 16, 2022 | Public Information Act Requests, Texas Open Meetings Act
2019 was a good year for open government legislation—in the wake of court rulings that weakened Texas open government laws, lawmakers approved measures to repair holes in the state’s Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) and shore up the Texas Open Meetings Act...
by Cobb & Counsel | Aug 9, 2022 | Public Information Act Requests
Governmental bodies are often wary to show the public how the sausage gets made. When a public information request implicates drafts of a government document, governmental bodies generally rely on two exceptions in the Texas Public Information Act as a basis for...
by Cobb & Counsel | Jul 19, 2022 | Public Information Act Requests
If you work (or have worked) for a governmental body in Texas, did you know the texts on your personal cell phone and the emails from your personal email address might be public information? In 2019, the Texas Legislature closed a loophole in the Texas Public...
by Cobb & Counsel | Jun 10, 2022 | Public Information Act Requests
The “dead suspect loophole” in the Texas Public Information Act allows police to hide records about cases that end without a conviction. Journalists and families of those who die in custody have criticized the law for years, but police unions have fought successfully...
