Paxton sues Travis County, says it violated open meetings act in DA security decision

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Travis County, accusing the county of "violating the Texas Open Meetings Act" (TOMA) when it approved taxpayer money for "security services" for Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza's office.

A news release from Paxton's office Monday said the Travis County Commissioners Court discussed "security issues" in executive session on March 19. After the executive session, commissioners voted to use $115,000 in general funds to pay for security related to DA Garza, the release said.

Travis County violated TOMA when it went into executive session, "depriving" the public "of the opportunity to comment on the proposal," the release said.

“The Travis County Commissioners Court remains focused on representing the Travis County community. We will always defend the role of local government in supporting Travis County residents, our employees, and our elected and appointed officials despite the deliberate attacks by state leadership,” Travis County said in a statement to KXAN.

KXAN reached out to the DA's office for a response to the lawsuit. This story will be updated when we receive a response.

"These actions violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by failing to give adequate notice of the topics that would be discussed during the executive session. Further, State law only permits governing bodies to enter into an executive session to discuss certain issues. The purpose of this session called by Travis County leaders was to divert taxpayer money for enhanced security at the District Attorney’s personal residence. That topic is not eligible for an executive session under the Texas Open Meetings Act," the release said.

“Travis County has illegally abused procedure to conceal self-serving decision-making, to hide from scrutiny, and to prevent citizens from knowing exactly what is being done with their money,” Paxton said in the release.

Through the Travis County Financial Transparency Portal, KXAN learned two payments were made on March 4 and March 29 in the amounts of $16,120 and $10,660 for “Security Services” for Garza’s office.

KXAN submitted an open records request to Travis County on March 7, requesting documents about the security. On March 25, we received a letter from the DA's office saying it sent the request to the Office of the Attorney General and requested that the information be withheld “because its release would subject a Travis County official to a substantial threat of physical harm.”

Earlier this month, after the AG's office denied the county's request to withhold the information, the Travis County Auditor sued Paxton's office over the public information request KXAN made.

Dalton Huey contributed to this report