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House Bill 2783 |
House Author: Smithee |
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Effective: Vetoed |
Senate Sponsor: Watson et al. |
House Bill 2783 amends the Government Code to authorize a court in certain actions brought under state public information law to assess costs of litigation and reasonable attorney's fees incurred by a plaintiff to whom a governmental body voluntarily releases the requested information after filing an answer to the suit.
Governor's Reason for Veto: "By threatening the taxpayers with attorneys' fees, House Bill 2783 creates an incentive for requestors of public information to sue the government as quickly as possible instead of waiting for the statutorily defined public information process to play out. The stated purposes of this bill could have been achieved without giving lawyers the ability to threaten taxpayer-funded attorneys' fees awards against governmental bodies that are just trying to follow the law."