Judge upholds Austin City Council’s new rules on public meetings and testimony

Austinites heading to the next City Council meeting may notice some changes to the public comment process under new rules adopted this spring. The changes come after a lawsuit that claimed residents’ rights to voice their opinions were being unfairly restricted.

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The Texas Open Meetings Law sets forth various rules intended to ensure that government processes are transparent to the public, including guidelines for how meetings such as City Council sessions are conducted.

Among the many items covered by the bill is a public testimony provision approved by state lawmakers in 2019. That update established that government officials can adopt “reasonable rules” for public comment, including a time limit for speaking “on a given topic” on the agenda.

In Austin, the city council has the ability to set its own local standards for conducting normal business activities and hear testimony from residents.

This year, attorney Bill Bunch of the Save Our Springs Alliance challenged the Austin City Council’s public speaking procedures, prompting the council to develop new rules that were upheld by a court on July 1. Bunch previously said the case was “new territory” under 2019 changes to the city’s open meetings law.

What happened

For years, Austin officials have offered people a set time limit to submit comments, rather than separate limits for as many individual issues as they want to comment on. Bunch argued that state law now requires officials to offer time limits for each issue, and he sued in April to force that change at City Hall.

This spring, two local judges agreed with him, ordering the City Council to immediately grant more speaking time and forcing officials to adopt new meeting rules — including a 2-minute time limit for each item — on May 30.

This was the last regular council meeting before the six-week summer break. The new rules are now in effect for all regular meetings, which will begin again the week of July 14.

District Court Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle ruled July 1 that the new procedures are “reasonable” under the Open Meetings Act and can remain in effect in Austin, with one change to ensure the policy is enforced.

Enlargement

In addition to addressing the speaking time issue, Bunch raised a related complaint as his case progressed this spring: that the City Council was unfairly restricting public participation in non-voting sessions. But that claim was dismissed.

The City of Austin traditionally holds regular council meetings on Thursdays, when it takes action on agenda items and receives public input. These meetings are typically preceded by a Tuesday work session, during which city staff provide feedback and review selected Thursday agenda items.

There are no votes during the work sessions, and the council does not allow any resident input on Tuesdays. But Bunch argued that state law — which requires governments to allow testimony before or during “consideration” of issues — means that the work sessions should also include an opportunity for public comment.

“If they are not willing to listen to the community, to be our representatives and to take our concerns into account, then they should not be running for office,” Bunch told the court on July 1. “We are not asking for an unreasonable interpretation of the statute. We are asking for a straightforward interpretation of the statute that is functional and consistent with the purposes of the statute.”

In response, Deputy City Attorney Brandon Mickle said Bunch’s claim would make the work sessions less practical for officials and the public by turning them into “another de facto City Council meeting.”

“The Tuesday work sessions increase transparency and allow the public to hear these briefings in real time, from city staff and experts, at the same time that the council is being briefed on this information,” he said. “The public benefits immensely from hearing information related to the council and from hearing the council’s follow-up questions to city staff.”

On July 1, Lyttle finally sided with the city, finding that Austin’s policy banning residents from testifying during work sessions was legal.

The city has the option to allow residents to speak on Tuesdays if they ever want to. Their new rules say council members can vote to open those sessions to public comment if they want to.

What are they saying

An Austin spokesman said the city appreciated the legal outcome that came after council adopted the new rules in the spring.

“The city strongly believes in the rights and critical importance of people engaging and participating in government affairs. We are pleased that the court found that the city’s new public speaking time ordinance complies with the Texas Open Meetings Act,” the spokesperson said.

Bunch said in an email that he may take further legal action after Lyttle’s ruling in early July.

“We respectfully disagree with this conclusion. We will consider filing a motion to reconsider this issue and/or appealing this portion of the decision,” he said in an email.