First off - Welcome to Texas!
Thanks for such an insightful comment on the situation of our state government. You are quite correct in you assessment. Texans want to be left alone, and not be harassed by our local, state or even national government. I'm not sure why you think that Texas being an independent country for a while is unfortunate. Other states were independent countries before joining the US.(Hawaii, Vermont, and maybe California)
We certainly believe in the independence and accountability of the individual. As an example - look at the difference between media coverage of Hurricane Ike (I live in Seabrook, TX) vs coverage of Hurricane Katrina. How many Texas officials have you seen on TV crying about not enough federal aid? Whether we receive aid or not (yes - I did 5 months later - Thanks!), people got up, dusted themselves off, and got to the work of cleaning up.
Anyway - back on topic. I consider myself a conservative, and I totally think that open formats should not only be encouraged, but forced for any government organization. Unfortunately, many politicians in this area are woefully tech-illiterate, and have no clue what this means. Actually, I think this probably applies to most politicians. I know I will be calling my representative to support this bill, no matter who initiated it.