May
11
Written by:
William Lutz
5/11/2010 10:30 AM
The State Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution at its March 27 meeting supporting the Texas Open Meetings Act as written and opposing city officials' lawsuit, trying to gut the open meetings act, in particular, by removing its criminal penalties.
Several city officials are using tax dollars to file a federal lawsuit trying to get portions of the law thrown out as violative of the First Amendment. At issue in the lawsuit is whether an email sent by an elected official to a quorum of the governmental body relating to items on the agenda triggers the open meetings act.
"... RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas supports the Texas Open Meetings Act as currently written and opposes the use of taxpayer dollars for filing lawsuits to weaken open government laws and similar examples of taxpayer-funded lawsuit abuse," the resolution reads.
The Republican Party of Texas also called for cities to stop using taxpayer dollars for these lawsuits. "The Republican Party of Texas condemns the actions of the Texas Municipal League in attacking open government and calls on elected officials in cities involved to stop using taxpayer dollars for this purpose immediately," the resolution continued.
The resolution was sponsored by Russ Duerstine (Senate District 28). The Senate State Affairs Committee is the committee hearing an interim charge on the open meetings act today, and that committee's chairman is Sen. Robert Duncan (R-also Senate District 28). We reprint the entire resolution below:
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE TEXAS OPEN MEETING ACT
WHEREAS, The Texas Open Meetings Act was passed in the early 1970s to make government more open and accessible to the public it serves, and recently, several city officials have filed a lawsuit erroneously arguing that open government violates their First Amendment rights; and
WHEREAS, Several cities are using taxpayer dollars to pursue lawsuits, and the Texas Municipal League, a taxpayer-funded lobby group, has endorsed lawsuits to gut the Texas Open Meetings Act; and
WHEREAS, Many city officials are trying to weaken the Texas Open Meetings Act by removing its criminal penalties;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas supports the Texas Open Meetings Act as currently written and opposes the use of taxpayer dollars for filing lawsuits to weaken open government laws and similar examples of taxpayer-funded lawsuit abuse, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas commends Attorney General Greg Abbott for his commitment to open government and defense of this important legislation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas condemns the actions of the Texas Municipal League in attacking open government and calls on elected officials in cities involved to stop using taxpayer dollars for this purpose immediately; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas encourage Republican members of the Texas Legislature to take steps to investigate and curtail taxpayer-funded lawsuit abuse; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to Attorney General Greg Abbott, the cities that are involved in this lawsuit, and all Republican members of the Texas Legislature.
Adopted by the Republican Party of Texas this 27th day of March, 2010
Submitted by Russ Duerstine, SD 26