House thwarts Watson’s bid to revive open-government bills,

Sen. Kirk Watson’s attempt to revive six stalled open-government bills was thwarted Thursday in the Texas House.

The bills, bottled up in a House committee since mid-April, were given new life last week when the Sen- ate voted to add all six as amendments to House Bill 2328 by Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville.

The most sweeping amend- ments would have undone Texas Supreme Court rulings that exempted nonprofits that receive public money from the state’s open-records laws and allowed companies to block the release of government contracts and other information that could give competitors an advantage.

Both rulings have been used to block the release of government information that once was public.

On Thursday, Lucio told the House that the parlia- mentarian, who reviewed the amendments at Lucio’s request, ruled that they did not belong on HB 2328 because they were not germane to the bil l , which deals with expediting certain requests for public infor- mation from governments.

The House voted to return the bill to the Senate as it was originally passed.

Watson, D-Austin, said the amendments were critically needed to restore the Public Information Act.

“I have worked and fought all session to protect the rights of Texans to know how their tax dollars are being spent and what government is doing in the name of the people,” Watson said in a written statement. “That right ought to be beyond debate. Unfortunately, it’s not, and some special interests that want to keep Texans in the dark are winning.”

Watson noted that there is still time for the House to act on two of his bills that would address the Supreme Court rulings, “if there’s political will.”