Texas House to Vote on DOB Bill Friday, Searchable-Sortable Open Records Bill Gets Hearing

posted on 4.11.2023

The Texas House of Representatives will vote on a TAB newsroom legislative priority bill this week.

HB 2309 by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, has an April 14 House floor vote on the local and consent calendar of non-controversial measures.

It would ensure public access to dates of birth in criminal justice and electoral candidate records and documents.

A newsroom’s inability to verify the right individual when reporting on a crime could easily lead to legal action against a station if the wrong individual was reported.

HB 2309 also ensures that background check companies and other businesses can obtain accurate information when deciding who to hire.

Similar measures passed the Senate in 2017, and the House in 2019 and 2021, but have not passed both houses in the same session.

House State Affairs Committee Considers Searchable-Sortable Records Bill

The House State Affairs Committee heard another of TAB’s newsroom legislative priority bills last week, HB 2493 by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake. 

The “searchable-sortable” Open Records bill amends the Texas Public Information Act by codifying guidance from the Attorney General’s office directing government officials to release public information stored in spreadsheets in their original format, rather than converting them to PDF images that cannot be easily searched and analyzed.

The Texas Public Information Act provides citizens access to a myriad of government records, in all their different forms. 

Governmental entities often store public information in spreadsheets. 

Analyzing data in a spreadsheet can help a requestor evaluate broad trends and better hold governments accountable. 

For years, the Texas Attorney General’s Office has recommended producing documents in their original format, if requested, but some governments continue to resist this guidance.

HB 2493 makes it clear that if government information is maintained in a searchable-sortable electronic spreadsheet, it shall be provided in that format if sought by the requestor. 

This also applies to public records in the custody of a third-party vendor. 

The proposed legislation specifies that data dictionaries or other information indicating the type of data held in a particular database field are part of the public record.

HB 2493 also says a government agency may not refuse to release the electronic information on the grounds that exporting or redacting excepted information will require filtering the data with software regularly used by that government, and a requestor should not be charged for this process.

A citizen requesting these electronic records has the right to receive the spreadsheet via an electronic dropbox or other suitable electronic form.

Several states have adopted similar laws in recent years, including Georgia, Colorado, and Missouri.

Testifying in favor of the legislation were two group members of the Texas Sunshine Coalition, the Open Government advocacy group of which TAB is a member.  

Dick Lavine of Every Texan and Rod Bordelon of the Texas Public Policy Foundation both noted the problems public requestors have encountered when seeking public information stored in spreadsheet form, particularly when dealing with a large amount of data.

As is the custom for the committee, the bill was left pending.

TAB and other Open Government advocates are hopeful for an expedited committee vote on HB 2493 this week or next.

TAB will keep stations informed as lawmakers act on TAB newsroom priority bills in the remaining seven weeks of the 88th Texas Legislature. 

Questions? Contact TAB’s Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.

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