Charles Blain of the Urban Reform Institute told Lone Star Standard that procedures used to prevent or delay access to public information in Texas make the Texas Public Information Act ineffective. They have “rendered the law useless,” Blain said in an interview with the Texas Talks podcast.
In the interview, Blain said government entities sometimes make it very difficult to get public information. They will create procedural hurdles, charge citizens who ask for information large amounts of money, or even appeal the request to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
The Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) was passed in 1973 and, according to the Freedom of Information Foundation, allows every citizen access to all forms of public information. This includes “information collected, assembled, produced or maintained in the course of transacting public business.” It also includes physical records, video and audio, and electronic communications such as emails and text messages.
TPIA states, “the people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”
According to the Texas Comptroller, the TPIA “gives the public the right to access and see all public records. Because government information is paid for by the public, all information is presumed to be available to the public.”
In a TPIA request to the city of Dallas, Lone Star Standard requested “all communications, documents, and other public information” between the city of Dallas and event hosts the city joined with to hold a public event in 2024. The request was for specific information such as the original application, and general information, such as electronic communications about the event between city employees and the event hosts.
Lone Star Standard received a response from the public information officer at the city. It included an invoice for $2,484 to cover an estimated 110 hours of work the city said would be required to complete the request.
The city included detailed instructions for various options to proceed with the request, including accepting the request and paying the full invoice, modifying the request, or appealing the cost estimate to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
