COVID-19 stirs transparency issues in Corpus Christi

Some nursing homes have become hot spots for COVID-19 cases and black holes for information about how many people have contracted the disease and how the facility is handling safety issues. At least two state representatives plan new laws to address that issue when the Texas Legislature reconvenes in January 2021.

Legislation designed to keep local governments and other entities open and honest during a crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic will be introduced in the 2021 legislative session, State Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) told a Zoom workshop Thursday, June 4. The “Government Transparency in the Age of a Pandemic” webinar was organized by the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Freedom of Information Foundation. It included chair of the House Appropriations Committee and fellow advocate of open government, State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Tarrant County). Also represented were members of the Texas Press Association and the Texas Association of Public Broadcasters.
“If you are a taxpayer and taxpayers’ funds are going to a particular group, then why aren’t you, as a taxpayer, getting information about that group?” Hunter said. “You paid for it, and it’s good to get information out there.”
The workshop addressed three main concerns that cropped up during COVID-19 restrictions.
First, families have had trouble getting information about how particular nursing homes have been affected by the virus or how the organizations are dealing with healthy and safety.
Second, some government entities have kept journalists out of their meetings citing the “rule of 10.” The Texas Open Meetings Law requires that all government entities, no matter how small, must properly post times and places of all meetings and allow media access.
And third, some governments have refused or been slow to fulfill requests for public information, blaming reduced staff and resources for their inability to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.
“I am concerned that some are making the process too complicated,” Hunter said. “Why are we going through speed bump after speed bump to get information? The process of open government is to get information to the public. This pandemic has shone a light on the need to open government up to individuals.”
Calling the pandemic a “black swan” (once-in-a-lifetime) event, Capriglione said the public needs to use the current situation to learn how to prepare for other disasters. He pointed to the nursing home situation as a prime example.
“We had 12 deaths in a small town, and they came out of one nursing home,” Capriglione said. “Family members were frantic to get information, but they were being stonewalled by officials saying it was a HIPAA issue. That’s an obvious fix we should be able to work on.”
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects individuals from having their personal health information revealed to anyone. Capriglione pointed out that HIPAA regulations do not concern the number of people who have died in a particular facility.
Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association, brought up the same nursing home example during the virtual panel discussion.
“We are wanting to work with legislators on how to fix what has been broken during this pandemic,” he said, thanking the Corpus Christi chamber of commerce for putting together the workshop. “It’s a heck of a note when family members who have a relative in a place and can’t get the nursing home to talk to them.”
Tim Archuleta, executive editor of the El Paso Times and a former editor at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, urged newsrooms across the state to contact their local delegations to push for support and the planned bills.
“We can’t win this battle on our own,” he said. “We need our elected leaders to join us and expand the fight.”
Baggett agreed.
“This will be a fight — you can count on it,” Baggett said. “These groups that like to put the speed bumps up will fight it in January every step of the way.”
The chamber plans to hold more Zoom workshops over the next few weeks, one a report from the infrastructure committee on the Harbor Bridge project and another on the Federal Reserve response to COVID-19.
The Harbor Bridge webinar is 8:30 a.m. June 12. The Federal Reserve webinar is 2 p.m. June 18. For more information, visit unitedccchamber.com. Past webinars can be viewed here.