The Ombuds Blog: UPDATE: Effort to Pass Shield Law Comes Up Short in Texas

May 28, 2007

UPDATE: Effort to Pass Shield Law Comes Up Short in Texas

The Texas bill to create an ombuds privilege ended without a full Senate vote this weekend. The bill, HB 3578, was under consideration by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee when the Texas legislature adjourned its biennial session in partisan rancor. Although the ombuds bill garnered no attention in the mainstream press, it received a unanimous vote in the House and a favorable reaction in committee hearings. (HB 3578 History; Houston Chronicle.)

Overall, there should be considerable satisfaction for the success that was achieved.

(Related posts Texas Introduces Ombuds Shield Law; UT Student Govt. Backs Texas Legislation.)

3 comments:

Anonymous5/29/2007 6:18 AM
Excellent support in the house! Certainly this bodes well for the future. Many thanks to those ombudspersons who actively worked on this!
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Tom Kosakowski5/31/2007 9:21 AM
Even though this was potentially the most important development for organizational ombuds in years, this news still hasn't gone out to the IOA members. Why not?
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Anonymous6/01/2007 9:34 AM
I'm just reviewing the blog. Great source for up to date news. I'm disappointed by the outcome. It would indeed by nice to hear from IOA officially.
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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