The Texas Tribune reported: “As the 85th Legislature draws to a close, hopes have been extinguished for major legislation that would have reversed the impact of two court decisions that limit open records access for Texans… In 2015, two Texas Supreme Court decisions limited the availability of public records when the government engages outside parties. In Boeing v. Paxton, the court ruled that private businesses could keep their contracts secret because competitors might gain an advantage if they were made public.”
Don’t blame the court, it simply ruled based on the sloppy wording of the law and that’s what it should do – rule on what the law says not what someone now claims it meant.
Not only did these fix-it bills die in the session, so did the more important so-called ethics reform bills which were stopped in the House by the Straus leadership team. Or I should say, the ones that clamp down on some of the most common abuse by legislators were stopped.
The American-Statesman published a piece headlined “Bills aimed at restricting lobbyists die in Texas House” in which it detailed just how close the Speaker is to the lobby. Calling the House a “boot camp for the lobby” the paper pointed out that Speaker Joe “Straus’ chief of staff, Patricia Shipton, is a former lobbyist, and his previous chief of staff, Jesse Ancira Jr., is a current lobbyist. Five Straus-appointed House committee leaders who retired after the last legislative session are now lobbying their former colleagues and have earned $775,000 to $1.7 million from clients in the first four months of 2017…”
Ethics & open government bills didn’t do so well
Robert Pratt
The Texas Tribune reported: “As the 85th Legislature draws to a close, hopes have been extinguished for major legislation that would have reversed the impact of two court decisions that limit open records access for Texans… In 2015, two Texas Supreme Court decisions limited the availability of public records when the government engages outside parties. In Boeing v. Paxton, the court ruled that private businesses could keep their contracts secret because competitors might gain an advantage if they were made public.”
Don’t blame the court, it simply ruled based on the sloppy wording of the law and that’s what it should do – rule on what the law says not what someone now claims it meant.
Not only did these fix-it bills die in the session, so did the more important so-called ethics reform bills which were stopped in the House by the Straus leadership team. Or I should say, the ones that clamp down on some of the most common abuse by legislators were stopped.
The American-Statesman published a piece headlined “Bills aimed at restricting lobbyists die in Texas House” in which it detailed just how close the Speaker is to the lobby. Calling the House a “boot camp for the lobby” the paper pointed out that Speaker Joe “Straus’ chief of staff, Patricia Shipton, is a former lobbyist, and his previous chief of staff, Jesse Ancira Jr., is a current lobbyist. Five Straus-appointed House committee leaders who retired after the last legislative session are now lobbying their former colleagues and have earned $775,000 to $1.7 million from clients in the first four months of 2017…”
That’s why ethics reform bills died in the House.