Rep. Janie López, R-San Benito, was a coauthor of House Bill 1522, which is intended to improve government transparency by extending the notice posting requirement for open government meetings from 72 hours to three business days and requiring notices about budget meetings to include a publicly accessible copy of the budget, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa. House Bill 1522 will become state law on Monday, September 1, 2025. She is featured here during a gathering of the Texas Counseling Association in Austin on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Photograph Courtesy REP. JANIE LÓPEZ FACEBOOK
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Public given more time to see agendas, proposed budgets before local governments take action under new state law coauthored by Rep. Janie López, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
A new Texas law, coauthored by Rep. Janie López, D-San Benito, will increase transparency in local governments by requiring agendas and proposed annual budgets to be posted in a public place or online three business days before public officials meet to consider or vote on those measures, reports South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa.
As coauthor, López was authorized by the primary author of the measure, known as House Bill 1522, to join in the authorship of the measure, making her one of the leaders of the proposal.
Transparency in government means that citizens can clearly see how their government operates, including how decisions are made, how public funds are spent, and what actions officials are taking. It involves making government information easily accessible and understandable, enabling citizens to hold their elected officials accountable.
Currently, Government Code sec. 551.043 under the Texas Open Meetings Act requires a governmental body to post a meeting notice in a place publicly accessible at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled meeting time, with certain exceptions for a governmental body that has statewide jurisdiction, emergency meetings, and legislative committee meetings provided for by the House and Senate rules.
“House Bill 1522, coauthored by Rep. López, changes Government Code sec. 551.043 to require the notice of a meeting of a governmental body to be posted in a place publicly accessible at all times for at least three business days, rather than 72 hours, before the scheduled meeting date, rather than the meeting time,” Ochoa explained. “The use of three ‘business days’ means that the public will have more time to know about and review the agendas, including the proposed budget, in order to make arrangements to show up and speak on any of those items.”
In Texas government, a “business day” is defined as any day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or a state or national holiday.
House Bill 1522 becomes state law on Monday, September 1, 2025.
The primary author of measure – House Bill 1522 – was Rep. Stan Gerdes, R-Bastrop.
As primary author, Gerdes was the legislator who filed House Bill 1552 and guided it through the legislative process.
“Filed” is used to refer to a measure that has been introduced into the legislative process and
given a number.
A bill is a type of legislative measure that requires passage by both chambers of the legislature and action by the governor in order to become effective. A bill is the primary means used to create and change the laws of the state.
“According to the legislative summary of House Bill 1522, local governmental bodies are required by state open meetings law to post notice of meetings to adopt budgets or other critical matters for their jurisdictional territory in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting,” Ochoa explained. “While this is meant to provide for government transparency and citizen participation, Rep. Gerdes said the current law – before the passage of House Bill 1522, which goes into effect on Monday, September 1, 2025 – could be used to the advantage of a local government whereby the intended transparency is infringed upon.”
The Texas Open Meetings Act, found in Chapter 551 of the Government Code, ensures that meetings of governmental bodies are open to the public, with limited exceptions for executive sessions. This law is designed to promote transparency and accountability in government by allowing the public to observe and understand how decisions are made.
For example, Gerdes discovered that the City of Smithville used the current law to its advantage to post notice late on a Friday afternoon for a Monday meeting to adopt a budget that relied on supposedly unsubstantiated tax hikes to meet the allegedly inflated budget.
Gerdes, upon further investigation into other cities, found similar instances along with a lack of public posting of proposed budgets and tax rates. House Bill 1522 seeks to ensure that full transparency and the right to participation is restored to all Texas residents by requiring the three-day posting rule in statute to cover only business days and requiring a physical copy of the budget to be publicly posted, including by providing for online posting.
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/analysis/html/HB01522H.htm
During the public hearing on his bill on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 before the House Committee on Government Efficiency, Gerdes – a former member of the Smithville City Council – explained what led to him filing House Bill 1522.
“This bill stems from my time on the City Council. I thought getting these materials meeting materials and agenda items and so forth on Friday at 5 o’clock for a meeting on Monday evening was just not enough time,” he said. “I pushed back on my time with the city council with the folks that I was dealing with and they said, ‘Well, this is the rule, this is rule we’re doing it by, what’s on the books.
“Not only do I feel like it’s not enough time for the city council, it’s not enough time for the folks that I was representing – the constituents of the City of Smithville,” he continued. “In my talks to see the bigger problem, I didn't feel like folks did not have enough time to ask questions, to do their own diligence, so they can come to the council and ask their questions. So that the genesis behind this bill and moving it from the 72 hour requirement to three business days.”
Gerdes continued: “I feel (House Bill 1522) gives a little bit more time for this type of information to be reviewed, not only by the council folks and the folks who are going be taking action on it, but also the constituents of the area. It is important for me that we bring some additional transparency to these open meetings.”
By requiring the three-day posting period to cover only to cover only business days and strengthening the mandate requiring readily-available materials to the public, this bill ensures full transparency, and right to participation being restore, he added.
Supporters say requiring meeting notices to be posted at least three business days in advance would make it easier for both constituents and government officials to review important meeting information that they may otherwise lack sufficient time for under the current 72-hour requirement.
House Bill 1522 also would promote full transparency and public participation in open meetings by ensuring that governmental bodies could not take advantage of the requirement by posting over a weekend, which can limit public awareness of a meeting or preparation time for local officials.
The budget posting requirement also would give constituents more opportunities to review a proposed budget before it was discussed or voted on.
Critics say House Bill 1522 could impede local government operations by delaying when a meeting could be held, which could be as many as five days for a Tuesday meeting that was subject to the three-business-day notice requirement.
While some have suggested that the bill should require a budget meeting notice to have a taxpayer impact statement, this could be challenging for many smaller governments that may lack the resources to provide this information within three business days.
While others also have suggested that it would be unfair to require local governments to follow different notice rules than the Legislature, the Legislature is already subject to different rules than most local governments and is a larger government body.
Critics say House Bill 1522 could impede local government operations by delaying when a meeting could be held, which could be as many as five days for a Tuesday meeting that was subject to the three-business-day notice requirement.
House Bill 1522 also could be costly for small local governments without a website by requiring them to provide a printed copy of their budgets, which may be expensive to print, every time a notice is posted for a budget meeting.
Requiring local governments to adhere to different rules for meeting notices than the Legislature would be unfair.
House Bill 1522 should go further in promoting government transparency by requiring governmental bodies to provide additional context with budget meeting notices, such as a taxpayer impact statement. This would help to inform taxpayers of the government's financial impact and how it may change with a proposed or adopted budget.
Born and raised in Edinburg, Ochoa’s roots run deep in the community.
A graduate of Edinburg North High School, he went on to earn a business degree, a master’s in accounting, and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
A champion for government transparency, Ochoa provides regular reports to the public on the Texas Public Information Act, the Texas Open Meetings Act, and existing and proposed state laws that affect the mainstream and social media and the people’s rights to know about the actions of their governments in the Lone Star State.
The Texas Public Information Act provides a mechanism for citizens to inspect or copy government records. It also provides that governmental bodies may withhold government records from the public in specific instances.
The Texas Open Meetings Act ensures transparency and accountability by requiring meetings of governmental bodies to be open to the public, except for specific, authorized closed sessions, and requires public notice of the time, place, and subject matter of the meeting.
The specific language of House Bill 1522 that will now become state law on Monday, September 1, 2025 follows:
AN ACT relating to notice of a meeting held under the open meetings law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 551.043, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 551.043. TIME AND ACCESSIBILITY OF NOTICE; POSTING OF BUDGET; GENERAL RULE.
SECTION 2. Section 551.043, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (c-1) to read as follows:
(a) The notice of a meeting of a governmental body must be posted in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least three business days before the scheduled date of the meeting, except as provided by Sections 551.044, 551.045, 551.046, and 551.1281.
(c) The notice of a meeting required to be posted under Subsection (a) at which a governmental body will discuss or adopt a budget for the governmental body must include:
(1) a physical copy of the proposed budget unless the governmental body has made the proposed budget clearly accessible on the home page of the governmental body's Internet website; and
(2) a taxpayer impact statement showing, for the median-valued homestead property, a comparison of the property tax bill in dollars pertaining to the property for the current fiscal year to an estimate of the property tax bill in dollars for the same property for the upcoming fiscal year if:
(A) the proposed budget is adopted; and
(B) for a taxing unit as defined by Section 1.04, Tax Code, other than an independent school district, a balanced budget funded at the no-new-revenue tax rate as calculated under Chapter 26, Tax Code, is adopted.
(c-1) Subsection (c) does not apply to the governing board of a general academic teaching institution or of a university system to which Section 551.1281 applies.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
House Bill 1522 does not affect from the governing board of a general academic teaching institution or of a university system that is subject to statutory provisions relating to the Internet posting of meeting materials and the broadcast of open meetings and clarifies that those provisions are in exception to the three-business-day posting requirement for governmental body meeting notices.
In Texas, local governments are defined as counties, municipalities (cities and towns), and special districts. Counties are established by the state, while cities are formed by the people. Special districts, like school districts, are created to address specific needs within a defined area.
Here’s a breakdown:
Texas has 254 counties, which are the largest units of local government. Each county covers a specific geographic area and has its own set of elected officials to manage its operations.
Municipalities
These are cities and towns, which can be either general-law or home-rule. Home-rule cities have more autonomy and can operate under a city charter, while general-law cities operate under state law. Texas has over 1200 cities.
Special Districts
These are entities created to provide specific services, with independent school districts being the most common type. Other examples include water districts, hospital districts, and community college districts.
These local governments are responsible for providing a range of services to their residents, from emergency services and infrastructure to education and recreation. They are funded primarily through local property and sales taxes.
https://texapedia.info/staging/4111/local-government-types-texas/
More detailed information on House Bill 1522 – including the bill’s history, the different versions of the bill, actions take in the legislative process, background on each version of the bill, similar bills, changes to the bill in the committees, House floor and Senate floor – are available online at:
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB1522
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For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
