State Launching Digital Archive for Government Files

It may be a bit unusual for some to hear the words “exciting” and “archives” in the same thought, but that’s exactly what Texas’ archivists are saying these days.

“It’s a very exciting time for the agency,” said Jelain Chubb, the Texas state archivist.

That’s because the Texas State Library and Archives Commission is launching a new project — thanks to new funds from the state budget — that will hold archivable digital files from state government, which the public will eventually be able to search.

In the coming years, those emails, reports, databases, spreadsheets, Word documents, images and videos won’t be sitting in individual state agencies, waiting for public record requests. Instead, the Texas Digital Archive will be the central place for all the digital files that state archivists deem of permanent, historical value. And once all those files are collected and categorized, they’ll be searchable to the public.

“We’ve been struggling and requesting resources to do this for a very long time, well over a decade,” Chubb said. “We’re very, very pleased that the Legislature is finally giving us the resources that we’ve been asking for — and we’re very excited to do a good job with it.”

Those resources come in the way of about $700,000 in funds in the next biennium championed by state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, which will fund three positions devoted to the project and pay for storage costs. That, along with $6 million for the existing TexShare and TexQuest information programs and other funding increases, represents a 31 percent boost in state funds to TSLAC.

Texas archivists currently hold millions of paper files and only digitize those of particular interest to the public. This project won’t scan and digitize all of those papers, which would take a significant amount of additional work and resources. Rather, the digital archive will consist mostly of “born-digital” files from state government, meaning files that were created electronically, rather than paper files.

With the project, Texas joins a national trend of states building digital repositories for government files, said Sarah Koonts, the North Carolina state archivist and president of the Council of State Archivists.

“People like it, and that’s what more and more people expect from government,” Koonts said. “They don’t want a lot of hassle, and they don’t want to go bouncing around a lot to different places to try to find records. People do like it. It’s kind of like the Google world for government.”

And the states that succeed in these projects, she added, are the ones that put enough funding for the back end of websites that people don’t see: the servers, staff and IT support that keep the projects running.

One element that will help Texas’ archive is that it already has part of its structure figured out, as former Gov. Rick Perry’s administration helped TSLAC start a digital archive of his files. The agency is still uploading all those files and testing its search functions before launching the interface to the public.

In addition to Perry’s files, Texas’ digital archive will hold documents that agencies no longer use and are therefore archivable. That means databases or spreadsheets that agencies still update and use for their operations will remain with the agencies themselves.

But for those documents that agencies no longer use, Texas’ archivists will go through and determine which ones have a historical value to the state. Then, they’ll tag the files to eventually make them searchable — but how many files there will be is still unknown.

“If I said millions upon millions of files, I wouldn’t be wrong, but I can’t tell you the size of all of those files because we don’t know the size of them until we get into looking at the specific agencies and what they have,” Chubb said. “It’s a discovery process for us as well.”

Attacks Have Already Begun Over Key SA Area House Seat

It’ll be a while before a rematch can happen between state Rep. Rick Galindo, R-San Antonio, and Philip Cortez, the Democrat whom Galindo defeated last year to take the Bexar County-based House District 117.

But that’s not stopping the Republican Party of Texas from starting to highlight what they see as failures by Cortez while in office. In this case, the RPT makes the claim that Cortez was absent or late to a majority of his committee meetings and missed 162 floor votes.

Said RPT Chairman Tom Mechler in a statement, “Cortez spent taxpayer funds lavishly as a state representative, but couldn’t be bothered to show up for work most of the time. The hardworking people of HD 117 don’t want glitz … they want grit.”

Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia dismissed the RPT communication as irrelevant to the concerns of the district’s voters.

"Predictable negative attacks from the Republican party like this one will not make one bit of difference to the lives of San Antonio families and voters in district 117,” he said. “San Antonio voters want to hear how candidates will fight for education and economic opportunity for middle class and working families. Clearly, the Republican Party of Texas has nothing to offer them.

"We look forward to supporting a Democratic nominee that represents San Antonio values in the 2016 general election."

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State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, has a primary challenger. Bryan Slaton announced earlier this month that he’s running to represent House District 2, which encompasses Hunt, Van Zandt and Hopkins counties.

Slaton, who describes himself as a “Christian-Conservative for Texas House,” has since followed up with at least one fundraising email.

For his part, Flynn hasn’t made an official announcement on his plans. But he indicated to the Tribune on Tuesday that he plans to seek re-election. “I haven’t even thought otherwise” about whether to run again, he said.

He added that “we probably had our best session ever,” touting successful attempts to make long-term reform to the state Employees Retirement System as well as putting curbs on capital appreciation bonds.

*****

A super PAC supporting former Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday released the third TV ad it is airing in early-voting Iowa, a 30-second spot that touts his border security credentials.

"I told him, 'Mr. President, if you do not secure this border, Texas will,'" Perry says in the ad, which features footage of his presidential campaign announcement earlier this month outside Dallas.

Opportunity and Freedom PAC, which first went on the air in Iowa the day after Perry announced his campaign, has already spent nearly $400,000 on media buys, according to federal records. The two ads the super PAC has previously released were more broadly focused on his rural upbringing and gubernatorial record.

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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., plans to visit Texas next month in what is expected to be his first trip to the state as a presidential candidate.

Paul's itinerary includes a stop July 17 in Houston for a fundraiser with his wife, Kelley, according to an invitation obtained by the Tribune. Among the hosts of the event is Steve Munisteri, the former chairman of the Texas GOP who now works for Paul's campaign.

Paul is expected to make other stops while in the state, though his exact schedule was still coming together Monday.

Paul, who was raised in Texas and went to Baylor University, last visited the Lone Star State during the South by Southwest festival. He used the March trip to help open his campaign's Austin outpost.

A Closer Look: Vetoes and Constitutional Amendments

bills to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 4, 2015
bills to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 4, 2015

Gov. Greg Abbott finished his work for the legislative session over the weekend, issuing a massive final round of vetoes ahead of a constitutional deadline to take action on legislation.

According to the Legislative Reference Library, Abbott made a total of 44 vetoes. As has been noted elsewhere, that’s the most vetoes cast by a governor since Rick Perry in 2007.

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Perry, it should be noted, made 50 or more vetoes three different times during his tenure. His most prolific session for vetoes was in 2001, his first session as governor, when he made 83 vetoes.

Perry’s predecessors, George W. Bush and Ann Richards, used the veto pen less often. Bush never made more than 38 vetoes in his three sessions, while Richards never made more than 36 vetoes.

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Poll positions were drawn last week for seven proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. The big one here is the amendment increasing the residential homestead exemption, creating property tax relief for Texans. Other amendments would do things like dedicate sales tax revenue for road building and recognize in the constitution a right to hunt and fish.

Looking at the numbers, that’s the fewest amendments offered up by a Legislature this century. The only other Legislature to offer up fewer than 10 was the 79th Legislature:

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Voters tend to approve amendments once they’ve qualified for a spot on the ballot. Only in two elections since 2001 have voters rejected proposed amendments. Three of the 10 amendments proposed by the 82nd Legislature were voted down. And two of the nine proposed amendments sent by the 79th Legislature failed.

The Legislative Reference Library has some other interesting facts about state constitutional amendments. As of 2013, voters have been presented 666 amendments on which to vote. So that total will be nudged up to 673 in November. Voters so far have passed 484 amendments and killed 179.

Inside Intelligence: About Those Abbott Evaluations...

For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked first about Greg Abbott's job performance in his first legislative session as governor.

The insiders thought Abbott had a solid first session with room for improvement. Half the insiders gave Abbott a B while another quarter gave him a C. Only 16 percent gave him an A and 8 percent gave him a D. And no one gave him an F.

We are squarely in the middle of the legislative scorecard season so we asked the insiders to tell us how those vote tallies collectively affect party primary elections. Nearly two-thirds of the insiders thought those scorecards do influence election outcomes. That was more than double the 28 percent who thought that scorecards don't play a huge role.

We pivoted to presidential politics for the final two questions. The insiders were most in agreement that Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, among the candidates with the strongest Texas ties, would still be viable contenders for the GOP nomination when the Texas primary rolls around next year. Bush was cited by 85 percent of the insiders while Cruz was cited by a little more than half of the insiders.

About one in four of the insiders believed Rand Paul would still be viable. Just 19 percent said Rick Perry would still be viable.

We closed by asking insiders on whether Republicans will start their national convention next year without having settled yet on a presidential nominee.

This drew perhaps the most interesting response of the week. The insiders were roughly split on the likelihood of what would be a historic brokered convention. Fifty-two percent rated the chances of a brokered convention as less than 50 precent while 48 percent gave those odds as 50-50 or higher. 

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

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With Gov. Greg Abbott’s session now done, how’d he do?

• "Got Pre-K funding and Border Security funding, but no Ethics Reform. The people will get a chance to voice its approval or disapproval of the constitutional amendment for transportation dollars from part of vehicle sales tax funding. Better than average, but not great."

• "B+ really"

• "His office was curiously disengaged for much of the session and when veto time came, followed the advice too often of those who characterize legislation based on key word searches rather than actually reading the bills."

• "No harm — no foul, and very businesslike in approach. Didn't meddle with House or Senate, didn't get too far out there, played it safe and close to the vest. (Slight bobble with the war games...)"

• "In terms of influence, Abbott was on the D list. Publicly, I think he came off better than that, but as to his impact, actually changing what bills would pass and their content, he was the weakest governor I've ever worked with."

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Do legislative scorecards influence party primary outcomes?

• "Maybe in Collin County."

• "Certainly not for a majority of the races; however, many folks today receive their 'news' from non-traditional sources."

• "Not to the degree the scorecard scorers would like... scorecard scorers would like members to metaphorically look up to the gallery for signs on how to vote on bills... funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same."

• "I've seen people coming to the ballot box with those scorecards, so I'd say yes."

• "It's still about knocking on doors."

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Which of these four GOP presidential candidates with the strongest Texas ties will continue to have viable candidacies by the time of the Texas primary?

• "Perry can't explain his support of in state tuition of illegals in a R primary. Or executive order on HPV."

• "All things being equal, I do not think of Bush or Rand as being Texan or from Texas anymore. Bush had to have been a resident and a registered voter of Florida for at least seven years to run for governor of the Sunshine State. Though Kentucky law is a bit ambiguous on residency requirements, surrender of residency is an issue with Rand as well. There ain't anything more un-Texan than to surrender your residency, least of which for political purposes."

• "Jeb, because he could be president. Ted, because Texas primary voters want him to be president."

• "If the Bushies get moving, and the 'moderates' re-engage in their fractured party, then Jeb will be in play."

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What are the odds that Republicans will not have settled on their nominee for president before their national convention in 2016?

• "If the Bush Money Machine doesn't decimate the opposition, this could be the first brokered national convention since the 1950s. Particularly if Iowa and New Hampshire create completely disparate 'win/place/show' results, it could be a fascinating Spring for political junkies."

• "Contested national conventions are a thing of the past, till the primary system changes."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Brandon Alderete, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Snapper Carr, Corbin Casteel, Elna Christopher, Randy Cubriel, Denise Davis, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, Jack Erskine, Jon Fisher, Tom Forbes, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Eric Glenn, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Ken Hodges, Kathy Hutto, Deborah Ingersoll, Jason Johnson, Mark Jones, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Dale Laine, Pete Laney, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Homero Lucero, Matt Mackowiak, Steve Minick, Mike Moses, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Patrick Reinhart, David Reynolds, A.J. Rodriguez, Grant Ruckel, Jim Sartwelle, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Mark Smith, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Colin Strother, Sherry Sylvester, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Corbin Van Arsdale, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Angelo Zottarelli.

The Calendar

Monday, June 29

  • Fundraiser for state Reps. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake; Wayne Smith, R-Baytown; John Cyrier, R-Lockhart; and Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (4:30-6:30 p.m.)
  • Fundraiser for state Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston; 221 W. Sixth St., Austin (4:30-6 p.m.)
  • Tribune conversation series: Houston & the Legislature: A Recap of the 84th Session; 1001 Avenida de las Americas, Houston (12-1 p.m.)

Tuesday, June 30

  • Final day to collect campaign contributions that can be listed on the July 15 semiannual campaign finance reports.
 

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act subsidies for people who buy insurance in the federal health care marketplace. That means those subsidies will continue for the more than 800,000 low- and middle-income Texans who bought their insurance on the exchange, as Texas declined to set up its own state-based exchange.

In a separate case, the nation’s high court ruled 5-4 that Texas has effectively reinforced segregated housing with its housing subsidy program, which gives incentives to private developers to provide low-cost apartments. The decision represented a victory for the Inclusive Communities Project, which argued that the way the state gave out those tax credits in Dallas packed minorities into poor neighborhoods.

State Rep. Scott Turner, R-Frisco, announced he won’t seek re-election, although he told his constituents his work in politics will likely continue. Turner, a former NFL player who was elected in 2012, lost in his effort to oust House Speaker Joe Straus from his leadership role.

The U.S. Senate voted to give President Barack Obama “fast-track” authority for his negotiations on a major trade deal, which Sen. Ted Cruz voted against. Cruz, who had once supported giving Obama more latitude to negotiate the deal, abruptly pulled his support of giving him the authority. The final vote on the measure was 60-38, with Sen. John Cornyn voting for the bill.

Wallace Hall, a University of Texas System regent, sued the UT System chancellor to try to get access to confidential student information. Hall says the records, which were used for a report on controversial admission practices, will help him better oversee the system, but the system said the academic records he seeks are confidential under federal law.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz now leads the pack among 2016 GOP presidential primary voters, the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll found. Cruz was running neck-and-neck with Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin in February. But now Cruz has surged and is leading the race, followed by former Gov. Rick Perry and Walker.

Former Gov. Rick Perry called removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse an “act of healing.” Perry, who is running for president, had faced criticism for mistakenly calling the shooting at a Charleston church last week an “accident.”

The University of Texas at Austin has set up a task force to consider removing Confederate statues from its campus. Students had previously called for their removal, but the shooting at a black Charleston church increased attention on the issue. The three statues were vandalized the night before the UT-Austin chancellor announced the task force.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Political People and their Moves

More lawmakers announced plans this week that they plan to run for re-election. Here's a quick list:

  • Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, for the Galveston County-based House District 24. He took office in 2013.
  • Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, for the Brazoria County-based House District 29. He took office in 2013.
  • John Wray, R-Waxahachie, for House District 10, which covers Ellis County and part of Henderson County. He took office in 2015.
  • Cindy Burkett, R-Sunnyvale, for House District 113 in Dallas County, which she's represented since 2013. She was first elected in 2010 from House District 101.
  • Dan Huberty, R-Houston, for House District 127 in Harris County. He first took office in 2011.
  • Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, for House District 21, which covers part of Jefferson County and all of Orange County. He first took office in 2015.
  • State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, for Senate District 20, which he's represented since 2003.

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a handful of senior staff appointments this week. They are David Maxwell, director of Law Enforcement; Adrienne McFarland, deputy attorney general for Criminal Justice; and Rudy Montoya, chief information officer.

GOP Senate District 1 candidate Bryan Hughes received endorsements from Texas Right to Life and a quartet of conservative leaders: Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford, Texas Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams, Concerned Women for America State Director Ann Hettinger and Heidi Group President Carol Everett.

Former San Antonio Congressman Charlie Gonzalez has joined the international Ogletree Deakins law firm to advise and represent businesses in labor and employment law.

Jeff Yates has been named the new director of the Conservative Republicans of Texas political action committee. He is a Houston-based political consultant and former executive director of the Harris County Republican Party.

Jerome Greener is the new state director for Texas’ chapter of Americans for Prosperity. He had held the position on an acting basis during the recently concluded legislative session and was offered the job on a permanent basis based on his performance during the session.

Mike Collier, who ran last year as the Democratic nominee for state comptroller, announced that he has a new gig: finance co-chair of the Texas Democratic Party.

Houston mayoral candidate Bill King has named Sarah Pennington Tropoli to his campaign team as neighborhood consultant.

Quotes of the Week

Removing the flag is an act of healing and unity, that allows us to find a shared purpose based on the values that unify us.

GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry, expressing support for efforts in South Carolina to remove a Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state Capitol there

Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, ruling in King v. Burwell, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act's system of insurance subsidies that if upheld could have dealt the law a fatal blow

And the cases will publish forever the discouraging truth that the Supreme Court of the United States favors some laws over others, and is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold and assist its favorites.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, from his dissent in King v. Burwell

The takeaway I want from the audience is that this guy has really thought about what he is doing. He’s substantive. He’s not just ripping off talking points.

Gov. Greg Abbott, in an email to aides on what he wanted from his first State of the State address

We don’t have the kind of quality assurance for edibles that we have for any other medicine.

Ryan Vandrey, lead author of a study that found large discrepancies between listed THC amounts in marijuana edibles and what was actually inside them