CONTACT:  Marlena Villers

214.977.6658

FOIFT Announces Its Annual Conference

Cooperating for the Public Good, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas' 2004 Bernard and Audre Rapoport FOI State Conference, will be held Friday, October 1, at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas.

The conference will open with the panel, Coming Together:   HIPAA Doesn't Have to Hamper Public Information, a discussion of the relationship between the Health Information Privacy and Portability Act (HIPAA) and the Texas Public Information Act.  Panelists include Anita Burgess, Lubbock city attorney; Gary McLaren, attorney, Richards, Elder, Srader, Phillips & McLaren, L.L.P.; and Randy Sanders, editor, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.  Tony Pederson, Belo Distinguished Chair of Journalism at Southern Methodist University, will moderate the discussion.

The second session, Internet Access to Court Records, will examine the recommendations to the Texas Judicial Council from a special committee that was convened to suggest guidelines for access to court records via the Internet.  Wanda Cash, editor and publisher of The Baytown Sun, will moderate the session.  Panelists will include Elizabeth Kilgo, director, Texas Judicial Council; Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips, Supreme Court of Texas, retired; Judge Polly Jackson Spencer, Bexar County Probate Court Number One; and Dianne Wilson, county clerk, Fort Bend County.

Following these morning panels will be the John Henry Faulk Awards Luncheon featuring Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott as the keynote speaker.  During the luncheon, the FOIFT will posthumously honor the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Howard Swindle, with the prestigious James Madison Award.  Ashley Swindle will accept the award on behalf of her father, who died June 9, 2004, after a five-year battle with cancer.

Recorded Votes, the first afternoon session, will question whether the Texas Legislature should require a record of how individual members have voted on issues.  The panel, moderated by Pete Slover, staff writer for The Dallas Morning News, will include Jim Frisinger, letters editor, The Dallas Morning News; The Honorable Peggy Hamric, Texas House of Representatives; and Norman Moore, chief clerk, Arizona House of Representatives.

The conference will conclude with a panel discussion of Private Rights and the Public Information Act featuring Katherine (Missy) Minter Cary, assistant attorney general, chief of the Open Records Division, Office of the Attorney General; Susan Gusky, attorney, York, Keller & Field, L.L.P.; James Sibley, president, Title Data, Inc.; and David Donaldson, attorney, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, PC.  Joe Larsen, attorney, Ogden, Gibson, White, Broocks & Longoria, L.L.P. will moderate.

Conference registration includes a continental breakfast, the awards luncheon and all panels.  For registrations received by Friday, September 10, the fee is $100.  After September 10, the registration fee will be $150.  Students may audit the conference for free, but the cost of meals will be assessed.  To register, call the FOIFT office at 214.977.6658 or visit our Web site, www.foift.org.

Hotel accommodations can be made by contacting the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel at 512.457.8800 or via e-mail to:   reservations-ausha@ichotelsgroup.com.  Ask for the FOIFT group rate of $109 for the conference.  Room availability and rate are subject to change after September 21, 2004.

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization supported through grants from private citizens, corporations, foundations and tax-deductible donations.

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