The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 29, 2010 Page: 4 of 36
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THURSDAY 2 9 APRIL ZD! □
NEWS PAGE
THE CANADIAN RECORD
Attorney General Abbott discusses health care,
open meetings challenges with Panhandle Press
In a speech delivered to about seventy-five Panhandle
Press Association members and their guests on April 15th,
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott focused his comments
on two lawsuits: one filed by several municipalities challenging
the constitutionality of this state's Open Meetings Act, which
Abbott promised to "vigorously defend," and another in which
Abbott and the Attorneys General of eighteen other states
are the litigants, challenging the constitutionality of recently-
passed federal health eare legislation.
Recalling that when he was first approached by the
Panhandle Press Association to pai'tieipate in its 100th Annual
Convention here two weeks ago, director Roger Estlack put him
On the spot, asking bluntly, "Do you believe in free speech?"
"Well, yes, I do," Abbott recalled saying.
"Great," Estlack responded. "Canyon come give one?"
Instead, Abbott delivered what he called a two-fer—one
speech on the health care lawsuit, and the other on open
meetings.
HEALTH CARE
Abbott said the health care lawsuit is only in part about the
constitutionality of the legislation. "That is a small part of a
larger issue," he said, "about us being a free society and a strong
democracy."
Inexplaining his challenge, Abbott took particular issue with
a key component of the bill which imposes an individual mandate
requiring all Americans to purchase health care insurance or
be subject to a tax penalty. He said that according to both the
Congressional Research Survey and the Congressional Budget
Office, "this is the first time in American history that Congress
has required its citizens to purchase a good or serviced
Abbott contended that Congress was aware of the potential
constitutional challenge, and so premised the law's basis on the
commerce Clause. "What Congress is attempting to do here is
to not regulate the activity of the health insurance industry," he
said, "but instead is forcing people who are otherwise choosing
to avoid engaging in an activity—sweeping them into the stream
of commerce and then attempting to regulate them."
"If our challenge is overturned," Abbott noted, "Congress
can make you buy any good or service Congress wants you to
buy."
For example, he offered, all Americans could hypothetically
be forced to buy aneleetrie car manufactu red by General Motors
"because transportation involves interstate commerce, the
environment involves interstate commerce, and now General
Motors surely involves not only interstate commerce but the
government itself."
The second grounds for the constitutional challenge, Abbott
said, is the Tenth Amendment, which says that all powers not
delegated to the United States in the Constitution are reserved
for the states or to the people. "...Article I of the Constitution
specifies the exact powers that Congress has to regulate your
lives," he said, adding that those powers do not include the
authority to force citizens to buy health insurance. "As a result,
Congress is assuming and usurping powers that are reserved
to the states."
In support of that argument, Abbott used the example of
purchasing auto insurance, a mandate which the State—not
the federal government—has the authority to impose. He also
argued that because the states require auto insurance only of
those who choose to drive on public roads, the choice of whether
Or not to buy it is left to the individual.
"Would it be to the greater good of the country for everybody
to have health insurance?" he asked. "Of course. Do we need
to do a better job regarding health care in this country? The
answer % of course.®
Regardless of the nobility of the cause, Abbott said, nothing
warrants trampling the guarantees in the Constitution. "Once
We push the Constitution aside, the document that has...held
this country together for more than two centuries erodes, and
eventually the house falls apart."
Infollow-up questions, the Attorney General was asked what
the equitable solution to the health care problem is. "We all pay
for the health care of others who can't afford to pay when they go
to hospital or emergency rooms. What would the proper solution
be?" one journalist asked.
Abbot said the reality of the health care bill is that it is not
free. "It's going to cost every person in this room a lot of money.
In the first ten years of implementation alone," he said, "it's
going to cost Texas taxpayers on the low side of $25 billion."
On top of that, he said, the demand for infrastructure will
increase With the additional Medicaid payments, insurance
exchanges "and other bureaucracies that never existed before,
which is going to add thousands more; people on Texas' taxpayer-
based payroll....The cost is going to be immense,"
"Congress has the power and tools if it chooses to give
everyone access to health care," he said, but to do so in a way
that does not violate the constitution.
Asked whether he would supporta constitutional amendment
for health care, Abbott said thought briefly, and said, "I don't
think so."
Asked to explain why, he said,: "Part of the beauty of the
United States Constitution is that it doesn't get into nuances
about who has to purchase health care insurance and how the
health care system is to operate."
That level of nuance , he said, should be beyond the bounds of
what the federal Constitution provides, adding, "It should be a
guiding framework for us,*'
OPEN MEETINGS
The Attorney Genex-al bluntly stated his commitment to
Texas' Open Meetings Act, which has come under fire from
several of the state's municipalities whose elected officials assert
that their First Amendment rights have been violated and have
filed a lawsuit challenging the Act's constitutionality. That case
is still in the early stages of litigation in federal court, Abbott
told the assembled group of newspaper editors and publishers
who were joined by several of Canadian's elected officials.
The litigants claim that the Open Meetings Act violates
their First Amendment right to free Speech which, Abbottsaid,
"is kind of bizarre because the founders intended the First
Amendment to protect citizens against the government—not to
protect the government against citizens."
Abbott said his office is seeking to have the municipalities
dismissed from the lawsuit because they have no standing to the
claims. "Municipalities don't have the same First Amendment
rights that individuals have," he said.
The Attorney General's second assertion is that the
municipalities' claims ring hollow because the Open Meetings
Act does not hinder free speech. "Instead," he said, "it furthers
free speech."
"I have no doubt the case is going to eventually work its way...
to the U.S. Supreme Court," Abbottsaid, "and one thingyou can
count on is that when it does, I will be there vigorously defending
the constitutionality of the Open Meetings law."
That statement was greeted with enthusiastic applause by
the group of journalists, who often find themselves in the front
lines of battle to keep public meetings open and to defend the
publics right to know what it's government is doing. Abbott
acknowledged the important role the press plays, quoting
former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who said,
"Freedom of the press is not an end in itself, but a means to an
end in achieving a free society."
"I think that's apretty fair statement aboutopen government
Attorney General Gmg Abbott addresses members of the Pan-
handle Press Association dming their annual convention's
opening reception April 15th at the IVLodge & Vineyards.
also," he concluded.
Abbott detailed his office's four-pronged effort to ensure
that government continues to operate in the sunshine:
•Education. All public officials must complete Public
Information Act and Open Meetings Act training, and that
training is now available in a web-based program accessible
anywhere in the state. In addition, the AG's office maintains
"an open door policy," inviting public officials to call any time for
answers to their open government questions.
•Greater efficiency. The AG's Open Reeords division "is
working at a record pace," and the staff of attorneys handling
Open Government issues has increased 200 percent to keep up
with the demand for timely responses. In 2009, Abbott said,
his staff issued more than 18,000 Open Reeords decisions, an
increase of about 150 percent since he took office.
•Enhancement of information. Abbott worked with the
Legislature in 2005 to create a law requiring disclosure about
how taxpayer dollars are invested, including the names of funds,
types of businesses that the funds invest in as well as rates of
return those funds achieve. Last year, he worked to clarify the
laws requiring public pension funds to disclose the salary and
benefits their executives are paid. '"These days in particular,"
he said, "the public needs access to information about how their
tax dollars are invested...."
•Enforcement, "We've made itclear thatwhenenforcement
action is needed," Abbott said, "we'll step up and take people
to court." Abbott cited as proof his office's success in obtaining
the first known criminal conviction for violation of the Public
Information Act [In 2003, Llano Independent School District
Superintendent Jack Patton was fined $1,000 and given a six-
month probated jail sentence for the misdemeanor violation],
and his promise to uphold the Open Meetings Act against
"seemingly every municipality in the State of Texas who joined
in on this lawsuit.*3
EDITOR'S NOTE: ^4 summary of Democratic Gubernatori-
al Candidate Bill White's April 16th speech to the Panhandle
Press Association will be reported in next week's Canadian
Record. —LEB
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 29, 2010, newspaper, April 29, 2010; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220837/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.