Hinojosa Temporarily Blocked From Access to Abbott, Musk Emails

Back in April of last year, The Texas Newsroom submitted a Public Information Act request for Gov. Greg Abbott’s and his office’s communications with Elon Musk and his Texas-based companies. In return, they got 1,374 pages from the governor’s office, and all but about 200 were redacted or totally blacked out.

The emails, flyers, and letters included an invitation to an aviation happy hour, and another to a SpaceX launch, per The Texas Newsroom. Matthew Taylor, a member of Abbott’s legal team, had explained the document redactions as containing “information that is intimate and embarrassing and not of legitimate concern to the public,” KUT first reported. Taylor also cited exceptions for information about how the state of Texas attracts and expands business.

Musk is the richest man on Earth and owns several Texas-based companies: SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, X, the Boring Company, Neuralink, and Terafab. He receives grants and property tax breaks, such as for the semiconductor chip factory, Terafab, from the state of Texas totaling in the billions of dollars.

Austin-based attorney Jennifer Riggs, who used to serve in the Texas Attorney General’s Office and now practices law related to Texas PIA, suggested that such redaction claims for public information have gone too far.

“I think we’re going towards the other extreme, where we have so many exceptions that it’s time to stop and say, ‘Wait, what do these exceptions really do? Do they really protect legitimate trade secrets, or do they let government enter into agreements with industry that the public has a legitimate interest in?’” Riggs told us.

Gubernatorial candidate and current House Rep. Gina Hinojosa requested the unredacted version of The Texas Newsroom’s document on Sept. 29. The governor’s office denied her request on Oct. 13. Last Monday, Oct. 19, Hinojosa sued Abbott in Travis County for access to the unredacted Abbott-Musk communications.

“There are billions of dollars at stake in taxpayer giveaways to Elon Musk from the state of Texas under Greg Abbott. There’s so much business.”

GIna Hinojosa

On Monday, Oct. 26, District Court Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled that Abbott must allow Hinojosa to see the unredacted Abbott-Musk communications by Thursday morning, Oct. 29 – five days before Election Day. The district court also set a hearing for the case on Nov. 2 in Austin. “Governor Abbott’s conduct is illegal,” Mauzy writes.

Abbott’s lawyers quickly filed an appeal early Tuesday morning, seeking a decision reversal from the 15th Court of Appeals before Thursday morning. On the same day, the appeals court granted the stay against Judge Mauzy’s order without further ruling on the case itself.

As a state legislator, Hinojosa argues in the lawsuit that she has the right, by state law, to inspect the confidential communications to inform concrete legislative concerns: economic development incentives, state grants, broadband contracts, and the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence and data centers, among others.

In Monday’s decision, the district court affirmed Hinojosa’s “immediate legal right” to see the documents as a legislator – urgently, as her term ends Jan. 12.

It’s also a transparency lawsuit. Hinojosa argued that Texans deserve to know “what these conversations between our governor and the world’s only trillionaire are about” at an Oct. 19 press conference in Austin.

“We have the world’s only trillionaire getting massive tax breaks from this governor after giving him over $500,000 in campaign contributions,” Hinojosa continued. “There are billions of dollars at stake in taxpayer giveaways to Elon Musk from the state of Texas under Greg Abbott. There’s so much business.”

Musk has donated over $5.5 million to Abbott’s campaign for reelection as of this fall.

We asked Austin-based campaign strategist Jim Wick if Musk’s dealings in Texas government have become a bipartisan issue – something most Texans care about, regardless of political party.

“The subject matter [of the redacted documents] is relevant to voters,” Wick said. “When it comes to Flock cameras and mass governmental surveillance, those are bipartisan issues at this point. And … when [Musk’s] business dealings impact so many Texans as it relates to energy and water and public land usage, yeah.” He also noted recent reporting about Musk’s backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s race for the U.S. Senate. 

Gina Hinojosa Credit: Zeke Barbaro / Photos by John Anderson / Email excerpts obtained by Lauren McGaughy, The Texas Newsroom

Per state law, a member of the Legislature can request “public information, including confidential information” from government offices for “legislative purposes.” But per the same law, Abbott can require Hinojosa to “sign a confidentiality agreement that covers the information,” meaning she would not be able to publicly disclose the document’s contents.

“Texas law prohibits Rep. Hinojosa from disclosing or publicly releasing the contents of those materials, and she does not seek to do so,” her lawsuit acknowledges. Hinojosa has sent Abbott and the court a drafted confidentiality agreement, the district court’s order states. Hinojosa’s lawyers could not be reached for comment on the confidentiality agreement. 

Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, called the lawsuit “nothing more than an act of desperation,” and accused Hinojosa of “abusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker for political purposes” in a Tuesday statement.

Riggs confirmed to the Chronicle that Hinojosa cannot be denied her rights as a legislator under the Texas Public Information Act just because she’s running for governor. 

“There’s no exception, as long as she dots her i’s and crosses her t’s, … that says, ‘Oh gee, and by the way, this right of access for legislators doesn’t apply if you’re running for office,’” Riggs emphasized. 

In Abbott’s motion to dismiss Hinojosa’s lawsuit, his lawyers take it a step further and accuse Hinojosa of illegally trying to obtain the Abbott-Musk communications for the “solicitation of political contributions” rather than a legislative purpose, and of “contemplat[ing] public disclosure of protected information.”

“Rather than suing, [Hinojosa] should have thanked the Governor for helping her avoid criminal liability and ethics violations,” the lawyers contend.

This is a developing story.

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