Attendees during a public meeting. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Critics said a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling in late February had “gutted” the Texas Open Meetings Act, but now the state Senate has passed a bill specifically to overturn that decision.

Austin solo practitioner Bill Aleshire, whose practice focuses on government transparency and accountability, said that preserving the Open Meetings Act is important for any lawyer who represents a client with business before a governmental body, whether dealing with licensing, contracts or rules and regulations.

“Lawyers and lobbyists might be representing individuals on most anything that would ever appear on a city council, county commissioners court, school board or state agency agenda," Aleshire said. “Lawyers, especially those that represent clients before government bodies, would want to know what’s going on with the government body and not have secret deliberations that may be adverse to their clients.”

The Senate voted Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 1640 by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, which would restore the criminal penalty for violating the “walking quorum” provision in the Open Meetings Act, a law that ensures that government entities at all levels conduct business in public. The term “walking quorum” refers to a situation in which all of the members of a governmental body hold a series of one-on-one meetings to discuss government business, and essentially find consensus out of the public eye.

On Feb. 27, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in State v. Doyal ruled that the walking quorum provision was unconstitutional because it was vague and abstract, and lacked any language to limit or clarify its scope. The court ruled it would not venture a guess on how to impose a narrowing construction, although it added that the court didn’t doubt “the legislature’s power to prevent government officials from using clever tactics to circumvent” the Open Meetings Act.

“SB 1640 addresses the constitutional issues identified by the Court of Criminal Appeals by making the walking quorum prohibition much more specific, precise and clear. This not only addresses the court’s concerns, but it will also help members of governmental bodies to better understand the limits of the law,” Watson said in his statement of intent for SB 1640. “Governmental bodies cannot avoid transparency by conducting a series of small, private conversations.”

Read the version of SB 1640 that passed the Senate: