In early August, the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) announced that they would be providing training to county officials on the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA).
According to the post, TAC wants participants to “learn the dos and don’ts of the Texas Public Information Act from TAC attorneys.”
The training will be led by attorneys Paul Miles and Laura Garcia and will “discuss the public information act, the process for responding to PIA requests, and other best practices including records management.”
The course is available to Attorneys, CPA/Auditors, Commissioners, County and District Clerks, County Judges, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs and Constables, Tax Assessor-Collectors, and Treasurers.
The training is part of TAC’s LegalEase Continuing Education program which provides “convenient, relevant training on legal topics specifically tailored to county government.” Some officials get credits for attending the training.
All government entities, including Texas counties, are subject to the Texas Public Information Act. The TPIA, first passed by the legislature in 1973, is intended, according to the Texas Attorney General, to provide the citizens with the ability to inspect or copy government records.
Records of county officials, such as email communications, schedules, and documents produced for county purposes, are subject to the public information act.
According to the TPIA, the public should have access to government records and that all government information is presumed to be available to the public.
It 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.”
Over the years the TPIA has been amended many times. And according to one frequent requester of public information and President of the Urban Reform Institute, the process to get information, cost of requests, exceptions to the law, and Attorney General opinions have “rendered the law utterly useless.”
Organizations like the Freedom of Information Foundation - Texas continue to work on legislation to reform the Texas Public Information Act to “ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public.”
