We the Texans: Public Access to Government

Texas’ open records law turned 50 last year. The Texas Public Information Act was meant to usher in a new level of government transparency following a stock fraud scandal that reached the top levels of state government.


First Amendment advocates say while many government agencies work hard to satisfy open records requests, others often ignore them, keeping the public from learning important details about how local and state agencies are run.


At the event, the next in our yearlong initiative examining the state of democracy in Texas, Matthew Watkins, the Tribune’s managing editor for news and politics, talks with industry experts and journalists about the challenges of implementing the Texas Public Information Act, how it’s affecting Texans and what solutions are available.

Speakers include:
Rachel Denny Clow, specialty producer, KRIS-6 News, who has used public records to expose local corruption in Nueces County
Laura Lee Prather, partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP (and board member at the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas)
Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas
Ruth Soucy, deputy general counsel for open records section, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

Sign up for the “We the Texans” newsletter at trib.it/HNA to get twice-monthly updates on our yearlong initiative dedicated to listening to Texans, boosting civic engagement and exploring how democracy is experienced in Texas. Delivered every other Wednesday.

To watch more events from The Texas Tribune, visit texastribune.org/events.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
→ Donate to The Texas Tribune to support our free events: https://trib.it/H2d
→ Subscribe for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/thetexas...
→ Follow us on Twitter:   / texastribune  
→ Follow us on Instagram:   / texas_tribune  
→ Follow us on Facebook:   / texastribune