Texas veterinary board uploads missing records after KXAN investigation

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has uploaded dozens of disciplinary records for veterinarians that were previously not showing up on the agency's public lookup tool.

Earlier this year, KXAN investigators discovered dozens of public records were missing from the tool that is intended to help Texans search for their animal doctors' disciplinary history.

At the time, an attorney for the agency explained the agency was undergoing a 'data-migration,' moving over records to a new software system. He noted that many records were being uploaded manually, so people would need to get disciplinary records by filing a formal public information request with the agency. 

By March, the attorney said all the records had been uploaded to the public tool, but KXAN found more than 60 records were still missing. The agency denied multiple requests for on-camera interviews about the issue. Just days before the story was published in May, two top officials at the agency resigned.

The newly appointed Interim Executive Director, Mike Tacker, said he would look into the status of these records. This week he reported that the issue had been "rectified."

KXAN checked on Thursday and found as many as 55 disciplinary documents had been added for licensees on the public search tool. We have asked the agency about a few outstanding documents.

In 2017, lawmakers called on the agency to revamp its data management processes and other operations, after a review by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission the year before. The commission is scheduled to perform a "limited scope review" of the agency's data management operations this November.