Celebrate the value of open government during Sunshine Week | The Star-Telegram

"Perhaps we are all too hyper-sensitive and hyper-political these days. The Post’s slogan simply follows a tenet that’s at the heart of good journalism: People are better off when nothing is hidden from them.

Or, if you prefer to read it in the Bible, it’s John 8:32: 'Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'

We celebrate this thought every year in Sunshine Week. It’s March 12-18 this year.

Public information issues abound in Texas, but many of them come to the fore when the Legislature is in session.

Several crucial bills in this year’s session deal with government transparency.

There are bills to require open access to contracts between government and businesses and bills to ensure public access to financial records of nonprofits that perform government functions.

Another would improve access to government records kept in officials’ private email accounts or in private devices.

There’s one to clarify access to juvenile court hearings and one to release records of a criminal suspect once that suspect is dead.

One bill would help public agencies deal with people who misuse public information laws by repeatedly requesting copies of records but do not retrieve them or pay for them.

Democracy grows when exposed to light."