Category Archives: Local Governmental Entities
Texas Cities Facing Tight Budgets Could Be Pressured by State on Police Funding
Calls for police reform and defunding the police are not new. A social movement has existed at least for as long as I can remember calling for police reform, and I am a member of Generation “X”. For those of you that don’t know, Generation “X” is smack dab between Baby Boomers and Millennials…. Read More »
Rescheduling Open Meetings in Texas Across a Range of Catastrophes
What do you do if you cannot hold your properly posted City Council meeting at the scheduled time? This is an issue many municipality’s face in Texas at some point, and more so than ever now that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Anyone that has lived in Texas for more… Read More »
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Grand Jury Subpoenas
What happens if the City receives a grand jury subpoena with a secrecy clause or gag order? Can a Texas District Attorney prevent you from informing your client, or the city manager or the mayor or the city council? As a city attorney, who is your client? What duty do you owe your client… Read More »
Texas Measures Regarding Law Enforcement Interaction with the Public
Since the murder of George Floyd, law enforcement both at the local and federal level has been in the news. Admittedly, it is not fair to judge all law enforcement officers based on the illegal, racist, or unprofessional behavior of a few but many states, including Texas, have had police encounters that have led… Read More »
Risky Business for Open Meetings: Including Announcements and Future Agenda Items
The Texas Open Meetings Act generally requires that a governmental body give written notice of the date, hour, place, and subject of each meeting held by the governmental body, notice of which must be given at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting. Therefore, a governmental body is generally prohibited from discussing a… Read More »
Texas Law Provides for Cities to Adopt Cite and Release Ordinances for Some Offenses
As of June 26, 7,821 offenders and 1,321 staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in Texas prisons, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The spread of the virus has led to calls for many prisoners to be released, and state prisons have halted intake from county jails for the past three months…. Read More »
Government Employment in the Age of Covid
As of June 3, GA-26 (Governor Greg Abbott’s latest executive order implementing Phase III of his plan to re-open Texas) allowed most businesses to increase their occupancy limits from 25 percent to 50 percent. There is no occupancy limit, however, on local government operations, both county and municipal. With those restrictions lifted, many local… Read More »
Injuries from “Less Lethal” Crowd Control Measures Raise Questions amid Ongoing Protests
As protests have swept through cities across the country, the use of crowd control methods by law enforcement are on full display. The use of oleoresin capsicum (pepper spray), conducted energy devices (Tasers, stun guns), and impact rounds (beanbag rounds, rubber bullets) for crowd control purposes has come under increased scrutiny. Proponents hail these… Read More »
City Council Meetings in a COVID World: Maintaining Quorums and Technology
The onset of the COVID-19 crisis initially loosened the rules for how local governments may hold open meetings via teleconference, but earlier this month as Texas enters the latest operational phase for opening up regular business, the state of play has changed again for virtual city council meeting participation. When the Open Meetings Act… Read More »
Policing During Protests: How Cities Can Balance the First and Tenth Amendments
What happens when local police officers clear protestors from a traditional public forum, such as a city sidewalk? What if, in clearing the sidewalk, they also clear a journalist, protected by the First Amendment’s provision for freedom of the press? What if they arrest that journalist? In the battle of First Amendment protections versus… Read More »