Senate Bill 26‑80 would amend multiple provisions of the Public Information Act to resolve drafting and timing issues, clarify what constitutes a license, and add a narrowly framed exclusion allowing the Attorney General to deem certain days non‑business days for purposes of PIA deadlines in catastrophic circumstances.

Senator Colkhorst said the bill "improves Texas's open government by fixing several minor Public Information Act problems that reduce transparency, cause confusion, or lead to absurd results," including renumbering sections and adding language to allow the AG to treat a day as non‑business day under limited circumstances.

Stacy Allen of the Texas Association of Broadcasters told the committee the bill's first section is moot because prior Supreme Court rulings and earlier statutory revisions already addressed the emergency‑delay questions that prompted the proposal. Allen cited the Texas Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Kallian v. City of Houston (transcript citation) to argue requesters retain the right to seek judicial relief immediately and that the statutory changes cannot curtail that right.

An Attorney General resource witness told the committee the bill is intended to help in unusual catastrophic circumstances where agencies may not be able to timely file catastrophe notices within the short statutory windows because of lost power or Internet access; the AG's office said the bill would include posting requirements and would not eliminate a requester's ultimate right to judicial review, but would aim to reduce simultaneous parallel litigation and administrative proceedings.

Committee members asked for clarifications about the interaction between the Supreme Court decision and statutory language; the committee left SB 26‑80 pending while parties continued to discuss the interplay with case law and administrative practice.