AUSTIN — Texans may not have less access to government information, but media advocates didn’t win any big 85th Legislature transparency victories either.

“This session, the Capitol was consumed with a series of hot-button issues — we all know what they were,” said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “Some of these issues sucked the oxygen out of the Capitol.”

Bills that would have undercut newspaper-notice laws didn’t gain support, but Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association, gave lawmakers a “D” when it came to letting the sun shine on government documents.

A number of “bad bills” did, however fall by the wayside, Baggett said.

HB 3387 would have made it easier for public figures and officials to successfully sue newspapers for libel and to make reporters disclose sources.

Opponents argued that the bill would have violated the First Amendment, and would have made newspapers less likely to cover public officials for fear of costly legal judgments. 

HB 3388 would have changed Texas’ reporter shield laws, which protect journalists from being forced to testify or turn over sources and materials. 

“The two bills were aimed at curbing abuses by political operatives who claim they’re reporters when convenient in order to skirt libel and campaign ethics laws,” Baggett said in a post-session press-association newsletter. “But the wording of the measures threatened legitimate news media as well.”

Both were left pending in committee.

A bill that would have helped plaintiffs more easily recoup attorney fees and costs when they sue government bodies passed both houses, but ultimately fell to the governor’s veto.

Currently, under the Texas Public Information Act, “governmental bodies may avoid paying court costs and attorney fees, even if they committed an egregious violation, by disclosing … information immediately before the court issues a ruling,” according to a Legislative Research Center analysis.

This thwarts the transparency purposes of the PIA and allows some governmental bodies “to harass requestors, essentially requiring requestors to pay for a lawsuit in order to get public information,” according to the analysis. 

But, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the bill along with 49 others, saying in a statement that “… House Bill 2783 creates an incentive for requestors of public information to sue the government as quickly as possible instead of waiting for the statutorily defined public information process to play out.”

Other unsuccessful efforts to increase transparency included: 

• Bills that would have addressed a Texas Supreme Court ruling that lets corporations and government bodies withhold contract information.

Among subsequent decisions that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office have said were covered by the decision: a ruling that McAllen officials needn’t reveal what the city paid singer Enrique Iglesias to perform in a holiday event there.

• Bills aimed at a Texas Supreme Court ruling that the nonprofit Greater Houston Partnership, which was paid to do economic-development work for Houston, isn’t subject to Texas’ PIA. 

• A bill that would have reopened access to birth dates in government records. A court ruling has put the information, commonly used to confirm identities, out of bounds.

• HB 2670 would have improved access to public documents in officials’ privately owned electronic devices.

However, property tax reform bills that would have allowed governmental bodies to post announcements of tax hikes on their websites instead of mailing notice or publishing them in newspapers failed. 

And there was a successful resolution calling for a joint interim committee to study the Public Information Act and make recommendations to the next legislature.

But overall, Shannon said it was “a particularly bad session for open government and transparency.”

And for the public.

Said Shannon, “Reporters are there representing the public.”

John Austin covers the Texas Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jaustin@cnhi.com.