The NFOIC open government blog is a compendium of original concepts and analysis as well as ideas, edited excerpts and materials from a variety of sources. When the information comes from another source, we will attribute it and provide a link. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited; we will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.
If you're looking for Advocate posts from before July, 2011, visit http://foiadvocate.blogspot.com/.
♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦
From Journal Sentinel Online:
Who should bear the cost of censoring Milwaukee police reports requested by the media under Wisconsin's public records law?
Lawyers for the city and the Journal Sentinel argued both sides of that question Tuesday before the state Supreme Court, whose decision on the matter could have a significant impact on government accountability reporting.
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:
Washington State Supreme Court rules accident reports are public record
OLYMPIA – Accident reports compiled by troopers and maintained in a state database should be treated as public records available by request, Washington's Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Justices said in their 7-2 decision that the Washington State Patrol improperly withheld files from a person seeking location-specific records. He was asked to sign a document vowing that he would not use the records to sue the state.
Visit The Olympian for the rest.
Public access fight can never waver
Any discussion about open public records in New Jersey must begin with a fundamental understanding: Government officials want to keep secret as much of their business as they possibly can — unless, of course, they can gain some advantage in publicizing it. So when it comes time to debate some form of public access, those on the government side will invariably warn of such things as jeopardizing confidentiality or the high costs of record-keeping — whatever it takes to diminish government transparency in some small way.
Visit DailyJournal.com for the rest.
Jessica Dorrell, Bobby Petrino scandal shows power Of FOIA
In an amazing turn of events, another former Arkansas coach has been caught sending thousands of text messages to a mistress. Bobby Petrino is just the latest Arkansas coach to reveal a bit too much on a state issued cell phone. Petrino was dismissed by Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long on before his phone records became available, but the revealing records won't make it any easier for him to land his next job.
Visit International Business Times for the rest.
University of Utah students launch open government campaign
University of Utah honors students admittedly have an agenda: They want government to be more open about its agendas. In fact, they want the state’s 270-plus cities and counties to be more transparent about all their policies and practices.
Visit Salt Lake Tribune for the rest.
NASA's new Web plans stress open source, cloud
NASA is building an entirely new Web architecture that leans heavily on cloud computing, open source tools, and social media. It will be used both for public-facing websites and internal Web services, the space agency announced Tuesday.
Visit InformationWeek for the rest.
ACLU pushes for 'transparency' in Mayor Frank Jackson's schools plan
CLEVELAND, Ohio --Mayor Frank Jackson has adjusted his schools plan to make the dealings of a proposed board to review charter schools more open, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says he has not gone far enough.
Visit Cleveland.com for the rest.
From TNReport
Local school board members can attend meetings digitally, so long as there is a physical quorum, under a plan that has passed both chambers of the Legislature.
The House on Thursday passed HB2883, which allows local school districts to adopt a policy, outlined in the bill, allowing members to attend meetings and vote via video conferencing technology. The bill states that such a policy would only allow members to participate digitally if they are out of the county for work, a family emergency or military service.
From KUOW.org:
"Trust and confidence in governmental institutions is at an all–time low. High on the list of causes of this citizen distrust are secrecy in government and the influence of private money on governmental decision making."
It sounds like it could have been written by Occupy Seattle protesters. Or maybe by the tea party. But the statement actually accompanied a ballot measure that Washington voters passed back in 1972.
From SantaFeNewMexican.com:
For the better part of the past year, city officials resisted The New Mexican's attempts to bring to the public eye documents pertaining to alleged embezzlement of public funds from the Parking Division.
The newspaper repeatedly requested the documents under the provisions of the state's Inspection of Public Records Act.
From Newswise:
Peter Hirtle, an archivist and senior policy advisor in the Cornell University Library, highlights the exciting new business model behind the upcoming public release of the 1940 Census, which will provide one of the most intimate glimpses into American lives during the Great Depression.
He says: “The 1940 Decennial Census is an incredibly rich resource for family historians and biographers. When it is released to the public on April 2, about 72 years after it was taken, it will provide a snapshot of the lives of almost all Americans.
From Bakersfield.com:
The controversial question of how Bakersfield City Hall handles its emails got a partial answer Monday when a city council committee recommended more training for staffers about what do to with their email. Open government advocates have said cities should treat emails as public documents and retain them for public access. The requests prompted a council examination of the issue.
Members of the council's Legislative and Litigation Committee last month discussed whether to change the city's policy but city staff responded that requiring workers to keep emails longer than they do currently would be costly and unnecessary. Councilwoman Sue Benham, who chairs the panel, had challenged city staff to look beyond maintaining the current policy. Council members Rudy Salas and Jacquie Sullivan are the other two members of the committee.
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier. Be sure to check out Sunshine Week 2012 News while you're at it.
Government confirms it has secret interpretation of Patriot Act Spy Powers
The government has just officially confirmed what we've long suspected: there are secret Justice Department opinions about the Patriot Act's Section 215, which allows the government to get secret orders from a special surveillance court (the FISA Court) requiring Internet service providers and other companies to turn over "any tangible things." Just exactly what the government thinks that phrase means remains to be seen, but there are indications that their take on it is very broad.
Visit ACLU for the rest.
Requests for public records from Wis. Gov. Walker's office increase three-fold
MADISON, Wis. — The firestorm of debate ignited by Gov. Scott Walker's changes to collective bargaining rules last year also triggered an explosion of requests for public information from his office. The office received 214 written requests during 2011, some three times more than the previous governor saw just a few years earlier, Gannett Wisconsin Media found while checking public records activity as part of a Sunshine Week open-government initiative.
Visit The Republic for the rest.
Results vary in local public records audit
Without access to public records, revealing the day-to-day happenings in government — from the mundane to the corrupt — would citizens be informed? Government really does control people’s lives, said Rowland Thompson, executive director of Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington. It controls who puts money in and who takes money out.
Visit Daily Record for the rest.
FOIA request flushes out details of settlement
Details of the settlement reached in a former New Milford police official’s $10 million federal lawsuit against the town, Mayor Patricia Murphy and the town’s police chief have been obtained by The Housatonic Times in response to a freedom of information request.
Visit Litchfield County Times for the rest.
Obama FOIA efforts earn mixed grades
Many federal agencies have failed to track basic information in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee study released Thursday. A separate, rosier study from nonprofit OMBWatch noted FOIA progress compared to previous years.
Visit Government Executive for the rest.
Arizona Republic and 12 News fight to access public records
The Arizona Republic and 12 News in 2011 successfully went to court more than 10 times to open public records for inspection. Journalists fight every day to open records and meeting to the public, but these cases stand out as significant legal victories.
Visit TucsonCitizen.com for the rest.
Agencies to launch portal for online FOIA requests
WASHINGTON — Filing a request for public information under the Freedom of Information Act can be easy — if you know where to send it. If you don't, you may end up sending your request to multiple agencies, hoping you picked the right one ... By October, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce and the National Archives and Records Administration hope to launch an electronic FOIA portal that would give the public one place to file a FOIA request.
Visit Democrat and Chronicle for the rest.
We've compiled a list of and links to articles and editorials about and in recognition of Sunshine Week 2012 and the events and observances that are being held in the states.
From TheLedger.com:
LAKELAND | Joel Chandler's success in taking on public agencies that balk at turning over documents deemed in the public domain has earned the Lakeland man the 2012 Local Hero Award of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The committee, a national, nonprofit organization providing free legal assistance to journalists, recognized Chandler for his dogged efforts to get state and local government agencies to honor Florida's open records law.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is a member of NFOIC. --eds.
Opinion from Palo Alto Patch:
Something is wrong.
I see it nearly every day in my representation of reporters throughout California. Local and state agencies are throwing up excuse after excuse when responding to requests for public records and are unapologetically meeting behind closed doors, chancing that the denial of access will go unchallenged or that a reporter’s resolve will fade with sufficient delay in responding to the request.
From The Post and Courier:
What do pension records, EMS response time data and coroners' reports have in common?
At some point, South Carolina officials considered all three to be medical records.
