Legal Services

	“A local citizen wants to come in and film our commissioners court meeting, but the court is hesitant to allow it. How should we handle this?”

Does a county have to allow the recording of a commissioners court meeting? 

Government Code §551.023 gives members of the public in attendance at an open meeting the right to record the meeting with a recorder or a camera. The court’s authority to adopt reasonable rules to maintain order at a meeting may reasonably limit the right to record. For example, the court may restrict where a camera may be set up, so long as the rules do not prevent the person from exercising that right. 

For more information, see our Open Meetings Act handbook.