Charles Blain, president of Urban Reform, said that submitting information requests typically leads to numerous demands for additional details, like identifying recipients, specifying periods, and providing email addresses, which can make the process unnecessarily complicated. Blain was a guest on a recent episode of the Texas Talks Podcast.

“They would respond with a lot of requests for clarification," said Blain on a recent edition of the Texas Talks Podcast. “A lot of times when I've done that, where I've sent an request for the City of Houston Home Initiative, as a hypothetical, for our current mayor, John Whitmire. I want all his emails. I will get back an email saying, well, you need to clarify to who and from who.”

“Then they might say instead of just saying the names, you need to tell us the email addresses for the people that you want," said Blain. “All of these procedural hurdles making it very difficult for me, let alone a regular citizen, to get access to public information."

Blain, President of Urban Reform and Urban Reform Institute, focuses on free market solutions to urban issues and expanding opportunities in metropolitan areas across America. He has been published in major outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and regularly appears as a political commentator on Fox 26 Houston's What’s Your Point. He also discusses local issues on iHeartRadio programs, including Pursuit of Happiness.

Texas Talks podcast is hosted by Brad Swail. The weekly show is focused on public policy in the state of Texas, with insights from the people and organizations that influence it.

The podcast is available on Simple Cast and YouTube.