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SPECIAL REPORT: Texas Officials Required to Attend Classes on Open Meetings Law

By Teesa Johnson
Black College Wire

Come January, the boards of trustees at Texas' historically black colleges and universities and other employees appointed by the governor will be required to complete a class on the state's Open Meetings Act.

The Texas legislature recently passed Senate Bill 286, which requires all elected and appointed state and local officials to be trained in open government.

�Most violations dealing with open government meetings are due to ignorance, because officials just don�t know what should be open to the public,� said Ken Whalen, executive vice president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, which lobbied for the law. �This training will give a better understanding to officials of what their duties are and what the laws actually say.�

Several of Texas' historically black colleges are public institutions, such as Prairie View A&M University, Texas Southern University and a two-year community college, St. Philip's College.

"I think this bill is very good because it will help us know what our rights and responsibilities are," said Frank Jackson, governmental relations officer at Prairie View A&M University.

"Anything dealing with educating public officials will keep us all out of trouble," Jackson said. Students, parents and others concerned about what is taking place with institutions have a right to know about public policies and procedures, he added.

According to the state attorney general's office, four complaints have been filed against Texas Southern University since January 2004 concerning alleged failures to open public records or hold open meetings. One complaint was filed against Prairie View A&M University.

In 1998, Charles Zucker, executive director of the Texas Faculty Association, was quoted as saying that "Texas Southern is the worst offender of all" in complying with open-record requests.

"For example, as part of a statewide survey, TFA asked Texas Southern on June 11, 1997, to provide information relating to faculty salary increases for the 1997-98 academic year," according to an article by Consumers Union. "TFA filed a second request on Aug. 19 after the university failed to respond. Having heard nothing, Zucker filed a complaint with the AG [attorney general] on Dec. 17. Shortly afterward, Texas Southern contacted TFA and said they would provide the information but that it would cost 10 cents. TFA sent a check for 10 cents, which Texas Southern cashed on Feb. 17, 1998. As of Nov. 3, 1998, Texas Southern had not sent the information."

The open-government training is to be held in the office of the Texas attorney general and last two to four hours.

�We hope this training will stop some of the frivolous and trivial matters we deal with concerning open records,� said Tom Kelley, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

The first hour is to focus on the state Open Meetings Act and the second on the Texas Public Information Act, Kelley said.

Signed by Gov. Rick Perry on May 20, the new law states that officials who are in office before next Jan. 1 will have a year -- until Jan. 1, 2007 -- to complete the training. Those who are elected or appointed after Jan. 1, 2006, will have only 90 days to do so, Kelley said.

Officials may designate a public information coordinator to attend the training in their place as long as the designee is the person primarily responsible for the processing of open records requests for their governmental body, according to Kelley.

The law applies to governor-appointed officials of these schools, such as members of boards of trustees, according to a spokesman in the Texas governor's office.

There is no penalty for officials who do not complete the training. However, the bill states that a deliberate failure by officials who do not complete the training may result in an increased risk of criminal conviction should they ever be accused of violating the Open Meetings or Public Information acts.

Texas State Rep. Garnet Coleman says new law serves public, though it might not lessen distrust.

�This bill is important because we have seen the national administration, as well as the Texas administration, go to great lengths to shield information from the public,� said State Rep. Garnet F. Coleman, D-Houston.

�The public and media should have access to information about decisions the government is making on their behalf,� Coleman said.

Coleman added that while he did not believe the bill would inspire more trust in government, he believed that the public would be served more appropriately.

During fiscal 2004, the open records division of the state attorney general's office received 11,355 requests from officials about the nature of their records and whether they should be disclosed to the public, Abbott's office said in January. In turn, the attorney general issued almost 11,000 rulings on whether government officials should disclose records.

Several journalism organizations in Texas lobbied for the bill, including the Texas Press Association and the Texas Daily Newspaper Association.

�This bill is marvelous and long overdue,� said Donnis Baggett, publisher and editor of The Bryan-College Station Eagle, a daily newspaper in Bryan, Texas. �There is a deep level of cynicism and this will help the government with those issues.�

Teesa Johnson is a graduate student in journalism at Florida A&M University.

Posted July 18, 2005