There are few things more relevant to voters than their legislators behavior on the job.
Charlie Geren’s bill – HB 2377 – updates a law that never should have been passed in the first place, at least, not if government transparency matters.
Geren’s bill would update a law that makes it illegal for audio or video taken by the legislature of the legislature to be used in campaigns.
This law stands against government accountability. The Texas Taxpayer pays for the video and audio equipment, the operators, the legislative website, the capitol building and pays and its upkeep; the Texas taxpayer pays the hefty pensions of legislators when they retire, as well as their salaries, and everything else involved.
The only reasonable explanation for this law is that legislators are doing official legislative business that would get them in trouble if their voters knew about it, such as when Reps. Harless, Hildebran, and Huberty gang tackled Rep. Capriglioni for introducing a bill that would make it easy for average Texans to look at their legislator’s government contracts, and those of his family.
At that particular hearing Rep. Cook instructed members of the public not to take pictures or make recordings, while assuring them that the state was recording it for them. He didn’t mention that the state made it illegal for these shenanigans to make it into a campaign, as long as the only recordings are state-owned. That way, senior legislators like Cook can sit by with impunity while reformers like Rep. Capriglioni are intimidated.
Also, Geren’s bill made it out of the House without a vote on Local and Consent Calendars. Local and Consent is designed to streamline non-contentious bills, or bills of a very local nature. This bill is not local, and should be contentious. If it isn’t legislators aren’t representing voter’s interests.
This is a law designed by legislators to keep Texas voters where many of them live – in the dark.