Lawmakers eye wider disclosure of officials' emails

AUSTIN — Government officials hoping to hide public information by communicating from their private email accounts or cell phones are in the crosshairs of a proposed state law that open-government advocates have labeled the most important of the session.

State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, who authored House Bill 2934, said his proposal would end confusion for government officials by providing distinct guidelines on what constitutes public information. Past court decisions have ruled communications created by a government employee concerning state business, regardless of how it is sent, should be available to the public. This proposal would codify those rulings into state law, said Hunter during a hearing Monday at the House Committee on Government Efficiency and Reform.

Hunter's bill, which also was filed last session, comes on the heels of Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson's 2010 case in which he refused to release personal emails sent to an activist about public business. The messages were sought by the San Antonio Express-News under the Public Information Act. Attorney General Greg Abbott ordered Adkisson to release the emails but Adkisson appealed and his case is pending before the 3rd Court of Appeals.

The bill is not retroactive and would not directly decide Adkisson's case.

Adkisson, reached after business hours on his cell phone, had no immediate comment. Bill Aleshire, an open-records expert and attorney, called the bill “the most important piece of legislation for open government that is pending this session.”

“If we don't get (the law) clarified and the courts go the way Commissioner Adkisson and others are arguing, every government employee could choose anytime they want to, to go off the record and conduct official correspondence using their personal email accounts and hide from the public,” Hunter said. “It will gut the Public Information Act.”

The proposed law also would prohibit government officials from texting, instant messaging or communicating electronically during a meeting unless for emergency personal reasons. Communications with other members during meetings should be available to the public, he said.

Donnis Baggett, executive vice president for the Texas Press Association, which represents about 470 Texas newspapers including the San Antonio Express-News, said the bill addresses the most common misconception regarding public information.

“(The bill) helps people understand that we aren't able to get a grocery list from his gmail. That's not public, nor should it be. But if he gets an email about a contract on a paving bid, that is public information,” Baggett said.

kparker@express-news.net