Lawmakers Consider Gaps, Abuses of Texas Public Information Act at Committee Hearing - thetexan.news

Committee Chairman Cody Vasut, a Republican from Angleton, opened the hearing by citing language baked into the law itself: that "government is the servant and not the master of the people." That framing set up a sharp divide in the room. Some local officials, including Angelina County Judge Keith Wright, argued the transparency statute is being weaponized against governments, turning records requests into a burden rather than a tool for accountability.

Requesters pushed back hard. Their testimony described a law with no real teeth, one that agencies can use as a shield to slow-walk or block access to public documents without facing meaningful consequences.

For people here in Lubbock, that tension is familiar. Anyone who has filed a records request with a city department, a school district, or a county office knows the process can drag on for months, and there is rarely much recourse when it does.

The committee has not announced any specific legislation yet, and no vote was taken at the hearing, leaving the question of whether Texas will actually strengthen or reform the act still wide open.