HOUSTON – On Monday, KPRC 2 Investigates showed you the attendance records of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo at Commissioners Court during 2024.
The county has a website with a link that lists “Commissioners Court Agenda, Minutes and Videos.” This is a standard for any municipality.
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When we looked at the page, it clearly details 33 meetings that took place last year, with 28 titled as “Commissioners Court” and five referenced as “Special Commissioners Court.”
The county’s page not only lists all the meetings, but it also provides us a video recording of that meeting. At the beginning of the majority of the slides, it clearly states to the viewer that they are about to watch “Commissioners Court” with the agenda items listed for that particular meeting.
When our team reviewed those meetings, our analysis shows Judge Hidalgo was not present for approximately 36% of the meetings in 2024.
Last Thursday, our investigator Mario Diaz asked Judge Hidalgo about the missed meetings.
She told us, “Yeah no, I think he’s going with business courts.” Hidalgo went on to tell us that we were “spinning things.”
On Friday, Judge Hidalgo’s team told us two meetings were missed because of an “emergency fire” and because of her “honeymoon.” In that same conversation we requested a formal interview to discuss what the county’s own website shows regarding her attendance. Hidalgo never accommodated our request.
On Monday, we followed up and emailed Hidalgo’s team our stats and what we examined. We wanted to be transparent about the conclusions we were drawing from the information we’d found on the county’s website. We did not hear back.
Our initial report aired at 5 p.m. that day, explaining that according to information on the county’s own website, Hidalgo had missed 36% of the Commissioner’s Court meetings. Right after our story aired, Hidalgo’s team then reached out us multiple times, emphasizing that the judge had attended 15 out of the 17 key Commissioners Court meetings.
Again, it’s important for us to note, the numbers we used in our reporting were produced after examining the county’s own system and information.
They highlighted concerns with the county system, stating it needs improvement to more accurately reflect meetings involving county commissioners. Hidalgo’s team argued the figure showing she missed 36% of Commissioners Court meetings misrepresents her attendance.
Monday night, Hidalgo’s team reached out again with a statement attributed to the Judge.
“My administration designed Business Courts to be quick, less-than-five-minute meetings with only three members present as a solution to keep routine county business moving in between regular meetings of the Commissioners Court. It’s a mischaracterization to equate these quick five-minute, three-member Business Court meetings with regular Commissioners Court meetings. Any of the few regular Commissioners Court meetings that I have missed have been for disaster recovery efforts or for milestones like my wedding. I’ve seen what happens when county leaders don’t show up for necessary votes, and I take that responsibility seriously,” Hidalgo stated.
In response to Hidalgo’s position, Commissioner Tom Ramsey told KPRC 2 Investigates: “I look at all Commissioner Court meetings as valuable things to be at.”
“Whether you miss two or 36% of the total, it’s important to be at all the meetings,” Ramsey went on to add.
A spokesman for Commissioner Rodney Ellis provided the following statement as well.
“These numbers are misleading and fail to capture Judge Hidalgo’s incredible work ethic and commitment to the people of Harris County. In addition to serving as County Judge, as the county’s Director of Emergency Management, she has capably steered us through multiple crises over the past year. The real story here is the transformative change she’s driven: increasing transparency and reimagining government,” Commissioner Ellis stated.
Our team also followed up with the offices of Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Commissioner Lesley Briones, and we are awaiting their comments.
Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett also weighed-in telling us, “I have never heard of those kinds of meetings to do business. If it’s important enough for the other commissioners to be there, it’s important enough for the county judge to be there.”
KPRC 2 Investigates will continue to follow up with the Judge’s office on how they address the county’s website moving forward. As well as attendance by the county’s top elected official at Commissioners Court in 2025.
