The Texas Legislature is back in session and has the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) on its mind. On February 4, 2015, Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Katy, filed legislation (HB 1118) that seeks to limit the scope of the TPIA.
HB 1118 would permit governmental entities to demand residency information from a requestor prior to completing a TPIA open records request. The proposed legislation would permit a governmental body to fulfill a request from a non-resident, but that governmental body is not required to do so.
Additionally, the governmental body may ask a requestor to provide her physical address in order to establish the requestor's residency. If the requestor fails to provide that address within ten business days of the governmental body's request, the governmental body may, for purposes of the request, treat the requestor as a non-resident.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Mr. Schofield stated he introduced this legislation because "the purpose of Texas government is to serve Texans, not folks from other places," and "it costs money and takes time every time we have a request." Click here to read full article.
The full text of the bill is available here. Check back for updates on the progress of this bill.
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