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AUSTIN — Bill Aleshire, an attorney devoted to protecting the public’s access to government information, will receive the prestigious James Madison Award for his decades-long commitment to upholding Texas’ open meetings and open records laws.
Aleshire, who initially made his mark in government transparency as a public official and served as Travis County judge, more recently has worked as a zealous attorney ensuring government compliance with the state’s Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act.
The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas bestows the James Madison Award for dedication to the principles of the First Amendment and open government. The foundation will honor Aleshire at its state conference Sept. 26 in Austin.
“As an attorney, I’ve been blessed with opportunities to fight for government transparency and accountabi lity. Transparency in government is the essential ingredient in a system that depends on its citizens trusting their government officials. Without transparency, the government is a petri dish for corruption and a reason for people to doubt the legitimacy of their government,” Aleshire said.
Among his notable court cases, Aleshire succeeded in an Open Meetings Act lawsuit in 2024 against the Austin mayor and City Council. He obtained a court order preventing the council from placing controversial charter amendments on the ballot because of inadequate public notice and opportunity for public comment at the meeting ordering the election.
A 2025 Open Meetings Act case Aleshire waged against the Hays County Commissioners Court resulted in the granting of an election contest that invalidated a controversial $439 million road proposal. The meeting agenda item ordering the election failed to even mention the election was for road bonds, which roads were included or the amount of the proposed bonds, which would have doubled the county’s total outstanding bonded indebtedness.
Aleshire got his start in government in 1973 as an aide to the Texas House sponsor of the Texas Open Records Act, now known as the Texas Public Information Act. He helped draft the original legislation. Aleshire was also involved in passage of the Texas Open Meetings Act that legislative session. He later served five years as Travis County tax collector then was elected Travis County judge, holding that post for 12 years as the presiding officer of the county’s Commissioners Court, where he was responsible for compliance with the Open Meetings Act and was the officer for public information for county agencies under the Commissioners Court. Aleshire began practicing law in 2001 with Jennifer S. Riggs in the firm Riggs & Aleshire and later founded AleshireLaw, PC. He continues to volunteer as a hotline attorney for the FOI Foundation of Texas, answering citizens’ questions about open government. He also periodically testifies on open government legislation at the Texas Capitol. “We Texans should be immensely grateful for Bill Aleshire’s hard work throughout his career to educate the public – and public officials – about our state’s transparency laws. Armed with information, we can advocate for what we expect from our elected officials as they carry out the people’s business,” said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the FOI Foundation of Texas.
The nonprofit FOI Foundation of Texas has presented the James Madison Award annually since 1987 to journalists, attorneys, public officials and vigilant citizens and organizations.
In addition to honoring Aleshire, the state conference Sept. 26 will present Spirit of FOI Awards to two outstanding news organizations during the John Henry Faulk Awards Luncheon. The luncheon’s keynote speaker will be Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent for CBS News. Sessions throughout the day will explore current issues in government transparency including accountabil ity surrounding this summer’s Hill Country floods.
The conference and luncheon are open to members of the public who wish to register. The event will be at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, 1900 University Ave., in Austin. A registration link, the agenda and other information can be found at https://foift.org/ activities-programs/events/.
