H-Town Ledger
Houston & Harris County, Texas · Tuesday, Oct 27, 2026
Houston's ledger: every tax dollar, vote, donor and deal. Schools first, just the facts.
 

Watch the officials

What they own, spend, bury and hide

Read straight from the bodies' own agendas and vote records: the big money that went through without a separate vote, every closed session and its stated reason, and each official's week of votes.

Showing Crosby ISD Board of Trustees only. Every government →

Closed sessions

Texas lets a body meet in private only for the reasons listed in the Open Meetings Act (Government Code 551.071–.089). Each closed-session item below is shown with the reason its agenda cites.

Records fights

When a government wants to keep a requested record secret, Texas law makes it ask the Attorney General. Each ruling below was addressed to a Houston-area body. The site reads every ruling the Attorney General posts, in number order.

City of Houston 256 rulings, 194 let it withhold Harris County 206 rulings, 114 let it withhold Houston ISD 29 rulings, 15 let it withhold City of Pasadena 20 rulings, 3 let it withhold Katy ISD 15 rulings, 7 let it withhold City of Missouri City 11 rulings, 7 let it withhold Harris Central Appraisal District 8 rulings, 0 let it withhold Cypress-Fairbanks ISD 6 rulings, 6 let it withhold City of Pearland 6 rulings, 5 let it withhold Humble ISD 5 rulings, 5 let it withhold City of Baytown 5 rulings, 2 let it withhold City of Stafford 4 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Humble 4 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Friendswood 4 rulings, 3 let it withhold Spring ISD 3 rulings, 1 let it withhold City of Seabrook 3 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of La Porte 3 rulings, 0 let it withhold Port Houston 2 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Waller 2 rulings, 0 let it withhold Tomball ISD 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold Spring Branch ISD 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold Pasadena ISD 1 rulings, 1 let it withhold Galena Park ISD 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Tomball 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Galena Park 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold City of Bellaire 1 rulings, 1 let it withhold Alief ISD 1 rulings, 0 let it withhold

Meeting transcripts

City Council and Commissioners Court meetings, as text, from the meeting video's own transcript. Search every word said at the microphone.

Card and travel spending

Payments in the City of Houston checkbook whose purchasing type or account says they were card purchases, and payments charged to travel accounts (airfare, lodging, per diem, mileage, conferences), added up by department and by payee. The checkbook doesn't name the employee who used a card.

Card purchases (FY2027)

DepartmentTotalPayments
Finance$4.1M2
Paid toTotalPayments
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NATIONAL$4.1M2

Travel (FY2027)

DepartmentTotalPayments
Houston Police Department-HPD$29.1K16
Mayor's Office$24.5K6
Houston Airport System (HAS)$14.1K3
Houston Health Department$13K57
Houston Public Works - HPW$2.9K3
Business Opportunity$3903
Municipal Courts Department$552
Paid toTotalPayments
*$20K59
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY$16.3K2
LivingWorks Education USA INC$12K1
IFMA$7.1K1
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT SERVICES$6.8K1
HARRIS COUNTY$4.6K1
ASCE - AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL$2.9K3
Kyle A Ramon$2.3K2
GENERAL ONE-TIME VENDOR$2.1K5
NATALIA CONTRERAS RIFFO$2K1
MEDSERV INC$1.7K1
LINDSEY TIZZARD$1.4K1

What the auditors found

Source: City of Houston checkbook file.

Personal financial statements

Personal financial statements list an official's jobs, stocks, land, loans and gifts. None of the offices that collect them for Houston-area officials publish them online as files the site can read, so this is where each one is and how to get a copy.

WhoWhere it isHow to get it
Mayor and City CouncilFiled with the City Secretary each year under the city's ethics ordinance. Not posted online; the City Legal Department's 2025 ethics briefing describes filing, not publication. City Legal Department ethics presentation, Aug. 21, 2025Ask the City Secretary, or file a public information request with the city.
County Judge, commissioners and other county officersFiled with the County Clerk. The Clerk's archive of personal financial reports sits behind a sign-in. Harris County Clerk, personal finance reportsSearch the Clerk's archive, or ask the County Clerk's office.
County vendors and officers: conflicts of interestConflict of interest questionnaires (CIQ) and disclosure statements are public and searchable at the County Clerk. Harris County Clerk, conflict of interest filingsSearch by name.
State officers, legislators and judgesFiled with the Texas Ethics Commission. The Commission does not post them; they're released on request under the Public Information Act. Texas Ethics Commission, personal financial statementsRequest a copy from the Texas Ethics Commission.

Revolving door

People who held a Houston City Council seat, the mayor's office, the county judge's office or a Commissioners Court seat (from Wikidata, the free database behind Wikipedia), checked against the Texas Ethics Commission's list of registered lobbyists and the City of Houston's checkbook payees. These are name matches: the same first and last name in both records. Two different people can share a name; check the linked record before treating a match as the same person. Wikidata's list of past council members is incomplete, so a missing name means only that it isn't in both lists.

No name matches yet (22 office-holder records from Wikidata (5 positions); 19773 lobbyist-client registrations (Texas Ethics Commission)).

Local lobbyists: Harris County keeps its own lobbyist registry. Harris County Clerk lobbyist search

Your rep's week

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Every official with a recorded vote in the last three weeks. Pick one to see each vote, what they moved and seconded, and the money their board put on its agenda. Find who represents your address →

Harris County Commissioners Court: Adrian Garcia Lesley Briones Lina Hidalgo Rodney Ellis Tom S. Ramsey, P.E.

Houston City Council: Carter Jackson Pollard Salinas Thomas

Houston ISD Board of Managers: Angela Lemond Flowers Edgar Colón Janette Garza Lindner Karen Duffy Lauren Gore Marcos Rosales Marty Goossen Paula Mendoza Ric Campo

Pasadena ISD board: Davila Fernandez Gonzalez Kendrick Phelan Sullivan

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