Promote Open Meetings
Overview: Former Texas Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby said it best in a significant op-ed piece in December 2009: “Governing bodies must conduct the people’s business in public or else face some serious penalties. This statue [Open Meetings Act] has protected the public and elected representatives alike for the past 42 years with a basic premise: Public bodies should deliberate in public.”
Problem: Former Lieutenant Governor Hobby clearly stated the immediate problem: “At least three Texas cities and the Texas Municipal League (TML) are endorsing a legal challenge in the courts that will render Texas' Open Meetings laws ineffective. TML, which is supported by your tax money in the form of membership fees, is urging more than 1,100 Texas cities to sign on to a federal lawsuit. The details of the challenge are stated simply: These public officials claim the Texas Open Meetings Act unconstitutionally restricts their right of free speech under the First Amendment. Of course, they are free to say anything they wish to anyone they wish at any time they wish. However, when they are meeting as a quorum of a governmental body, they must say it in front of the public at an open meeting.”
Solution: The Open Meetings Act, passed in 1967 and strengthened in 1973, should remain in its entirety, including the penalties necessary for compliance enforcement. The recent claims and litigation that the First Amendment somehow allows officials to secretly meet and discuss the public issues, all in private, in violation of clear Texas law, and conversely not be required to follow the law and procedures (and suffer the penalties of violating the Open Meetings Act) turn the First Amendment on its head. Hobby put it succinctly “…the First Amendment cannot be a shield to prevent accountability of public officials, but guarantees access to the workings of these governmental bodies just like it does to our courts.” We can adapt to modern communications and technology without a reversion to shutting out the public and thwarting the will of the People of Texas, clearly expressed through the legislature.
