The future of a Texas bill to increase government transparency is up in the air after the bill was apparently lost when being delivered to the lieutenant governor.
House Bill 30 was passed by both chambers of the Texas legislature toward the end of the regular legislative session that ended last Monday.
It was signed by Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan but must also be signed by the lieutenant governor, who leads the Texas Senate, before it can be sent to Governor Greg Abbott.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has yet to sign the legislation, however, because it was seemingly lost when a batch of bills was delivered to his office, as first reported by KXAN News.
“It is a mandatory provision,” said Randy Erben, former legislative director for Abbott and current adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, per The Texas Tribune.
He said, “The bill is invalid if it’s not signed by both presiding officers.”
The bill, authored by Texas Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso), would close the “dead suspect loophole” that allows governmental bodies to redact or withhold law enforcement records pertaining to someone who has not been convicted of a crime.
While this provision was originally intended to protect individuals accused of crimes they may not have committed, its opponents argue some agencies have used it to conceal information about suspects who are killed by police officers or die in police custody.
Polling conducted by The Dallas Express has shown local residents want more transparency from governmental institutions, particularly the City of Dallas government.
Moody has been pushing legislation to crack down on the loophole since 2017 but has garnered bipartisan support after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in 2022.
“More than anything, the families of the #Uvalde victims need honest answers and transparency. Period,” Phelan said on Twitter after the shooting.
“It would be absolutely unconscionable to use the ‘dead suspect loophole’ to thwart the release of information that is so badly needed and deserved right now. I think it’s time we pass legislation to end the dead suspect loophole for good in 2023.”
Despite the bipartisan support from both legislative chambers, the bill has not moved forward because it lacks Patrick’s signature.
Under the Texas Constitution, “The presiding officer of each House shall, in the presence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the Legislature, after their titles have been publicly read before signing.”
Cait Wittman, communications director for Phelan, told The Texas Tribune the future of the bill is uncertain and it is not clear whether a chance remains for the bill to become law.
“Because we are unaware of any similar situation in modern history, this is an open legal question,” she said.
The House and the Senate each passed the legislation the day before the end of the regular session — May 28.
HB 30 was one of 61 bills in “Batch Number 37.” However, after Texas Legislative Council staff delivered the batch to Lt. Gov. Patrick, the bill was determined to be missing on May 30.
Senate Journal Clerk Lourdes Litchfield told KXAN that the bill “was never delivered back to the Senate.”
“It seems that HB 30 was left in the possession of the House when the Senate adjourned Sine Die on Monday,” she said. “For this reason, it was not signed in the presence of the Senate.”
Rep. Moody told KXAN he could not comment on the situation.
The Dallas Express contacted the offices of Patrick and Abbott for comment but received no response by press time.
