Senate Bill 1223 seeks to turn Texas into a two-party (rather than one-party) notification state for recording communications. This is a bad idea, for much the same reason that Jason Villalba’s House Bill 2918 was a bad idea, though SB 1223 has much broader implications.
In addition to making it illegal to secretly record interactions with government officials (including police) without informing them, it would also make most secret investigative journalism illegal (including pretty much everything James O’Keefe has recorded to embarrass the Democratic Party), recording interactions with corporate customer service representatives, and recording illegal activity would itself become illegal.
Or take this recent video of a counselor threatening to file harassment charges against a student merely for waiting for his adviser:
That too would be illegal under SB 1223. It’s a bad idea that should be quashed.
(Hat tip: Push Junction.)
Tags: Texas, Texas 84th Legislative Session, video