Across the United States, and in Texas specifically, there has been a push by conservative policymakers to restrict the use of Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) policies when making money management decisions. Nationally, trillions of dollars in investments, including state pension funds and individuals’ retirement savings, are at stake, as is the future of the fossil fuel industry. With ESG-proponents asserting that the impacts of global warming are becoming more severe and apparent, consumers and shareholders are pushing investment firms to consider climate-related risks when making ..read more

Members of the public have access to certain government contracting information, thanks to provisions in the Texas Government Code and the General Appropriations Act. Certain contracts are required to be reported to the Legislative Budget Board, which maintains an online contracts database that is accessible by the public. Certain other contracts, that are not already posted to the LBB contracts database, must be posted on the state agency’s website. If you can’t find a government contract on the LBB contracts database or the agency’s website, you may request the information under the Texas P ..read more

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken aggressive action against leading tech companies, filing high-profile litigation against Google and Facebook for alleged violations of antitrust and consumer protection laws. Paxton’s office is also investigating possible First Amendment violations by Twitter in connection with the deplatforming of former President Trump and others. Paxton isn’t alone in his crusade against big tech—fellow attorneys general and even the Biden administration are on board. In January 2023, President Biden called on Congress to enact bipartisan legislation to rein in b ..read more

Serving in the Texas Legislature has its perks: free meals, a nice pension, and special access to government secrets. Under the Texas Public Information Act, legislators and legislative committees may obtain confidential information from governmental bodies if the information is requested for “legislative purposes.” Governmental bodies can withhold the same confidential information from the general public. Six Texas lawmakers recently used their special right of access to obtain investigatory information about the Uvalde school shooting from the Texas Department of Public Safety, adding to tr ..read more

The legality of electronic gaming machines known as “eight-liners” has been debated in Texas for years. Although gambling devices are generally prohibited, eight-liner owners have taken the position that their machines fall within the so-called “fuzzy-animal exception.” In 2022, a Texas court of appeals held that eight-liners are lotteries and can’t be lawfully operated without a constitutional amendment. Now, the Texas Supreme Court may take up the issue. Does this mean the end of eight-liners in Texas? The Texas Penal Code prohibits gambling devices that, for consideration, allow the playe ..read more

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the federal government agree on at least one issue: robotext scams are getting out of hand. In January 2023, Texas AG Paxton and 50 other state attorneys general sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to require mobile wireless providers to block illegal text messages at the network level when the messages appear to be from invalid, unallocated, or unused numbers, and numbers on a do-not-call list. While the FCC considers rule changes, there are a few things you can do right away to cut down on the number of spam texts you ..read more

It’s the question on everyone’s mind when a drone flies over their property—can I shoot it down? The short answer is no. Each drone encounter requires a fact-specific analysis of the legality of whether you can shoot it down. There are many lawful uses for drones under state law. If you shoot down a drone that is lawfully operating, you could be held liable for damages, and may even face criminal penalties for discharging a firearm in violation of city or county law. No matter how tempting it might be to fire at a pesky drone, just don’t do it. If you shoot down a drone, you could be in trou ..read more

No one likes receiving a bad report card. For government contractors, the consequences of a bad report card can be severe—repeated unfavorable performance reports from a state agency may result in debarment for up to five years. Under Texas law, a vendor has at least two chances to challenge a negative Vendor Performance Report (“VPR”) that it receives from a state agency. If you expect to receive a negative VPR, or already have, you’ll have to act quickly to submit your protest by the deadline, in compliance with the Comptroller’s rules.   When are VPRs posted? State agencies are requi ..read more

Texas lawmakers have already pre-filed more than 1,000 bills that they hope to pass in next year’s legislative session. Among them is SJR 17, which proposes a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling at a limited number of locations in the state. Similar bills were filed during the last regular legislative session in 2021, but none gained traction. While the Texas Legislature could try to legalize casino gambling without amending the state constitution, the law would almost certainly be challenged as unconstitutional. The Texas Constitution has prohibited gambling for most of the st ..read more

2019 was a good year for open government legislation—in the wake of court rulings that weakened Texas open government laws, lawmakers approved measures to repair holes in the state’s Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) and shore up the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). Then Texas was hit with a pandemic, causing many government offices to close or operate on a skeleton crew—magnifying certain problems in our open government laws. Unfortunately, when the Texas Legislature convened in 2021, open government legislation had little success. Pre-filing for the 88th legislative session began on N ..read more