The 86th Texas Legislature changed the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) (Texas Government Code, Subchapter A, Section 551). Effective September 1, 2019, the TOMA will require the boards of trustees of public schools to allow any member of the public wishing to address the board on open-meeting agenda items “to address the body regarding the item at the meeting before or during the body’s consideration of the item."

The Legislature further underscored in the enrolled bill, HB 2840, that “(a) governmental body may not prohibit public criticism, including criticism of any act, omission, policy, procedure, program, or service” except for “public criticism that is otherwise prohibited by law."

However, HB 2840 does allow governmental bodies (such as boards of trustees) to adopt “reasonable rules” or policies regarding the public’s right to address the board under this provision. The law provides that:

1. The rules that the board adopts may “limit the total amount of time that a member of the public may address the body on a given item”; and
2. Any such rule that limits the time allotted for each member of the public to address the board of trustees “must provide that a member of the public who addresses the body through a translator must be given at least twice the amount of time as a member of the public who does not require the assistance of a translator”. (The only exception to this latter provision is if the governmental body employs simultaneous translation equipment.)