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/.
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From ClarionLedger.com:
The city of Jackson fails about four times in 10 to respond to public records requests within the time limit set by state law.
A Clarion-Ledger analysis of open records logs identified around 225 requests that weren't fulfilled within seven business days since the law was changed in July 2010. About 365 requests were completed in time, while the status of dozens of others could not be determined because of poor record keeping.
From SanLuisObispo.com:
The Oceano Community Services District has been warned that it could face litigation unless district officials correct two issues stemming from a meeting earlier this month.
Terry Francke, general counsel for the open government advocacy group Californians Aware, cautioned Monday that the district’s handling of public comments is not compliant with the state’s open-meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.
Californians Aware is a member of NFOIC. -- eds.
From Deseret News:
SALT LAKE CITY — Last year, an attempt to change Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act led to a raucus Capitol Hill rally, outraged editorials and citizens throughout the state up in arms.
This year, the effort to amend the public records access law, known as GRAMA, met with no opposition as the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee voted 6-0 Tuesday to send SB177 on to the full Senate.
From the Mail Tribune:
SALEM — A bill that would close off the records of those who hold concealed handgun licenses in Oregon easily passed the House, but its future in the Senate is, again, questionable.
It's the fourth time the House has passed such a bill, but each time the bill died in the Senate in the 2009 and 2011 sessions.
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:
"Why I'm Suing the FBI, the DoD and the CIA"
Over the past year, I've filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the FBI, CIA, Department of Defense, and other government agencies in hopes of prying loose documents I need to support my investigative reporting efforts on a wide-range of issues and policies.
One of the frustrating realities about the FOIA process is the enormous backlog of requests government agencies have to contend with, which means many months or years could pass before my request is finally processed and I receive a response. However, a little-known FOIA provision allows requesters to seek an estimated date of completion from government agencies on their FOIA requests...
Visit TruthOut for the rest.
Cybersecurity Bill Threatens Public Access to Information, Accountability
Yesterday organizations concerned with open government and accountability released a letter expressing their concern with several sections of the recently-introduced Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and urging the Senate to delay voting on the bill until the issues have been carefully and thoroughly reviewed.
The letter cites provisions in the bill that create unnecessary, overbroad and unwise limitations to access of information, including broad exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and jeopardize the rights of whistleblowers.
Visit OpenTheGovernment.org for the rest.
Arkansas Police use of force records subject to FOI
Police records regarding the use of force by an officer are not exempt from the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, the state Supreme Court said today in a ruling hailed as a victory for open government.
The high court affirmed a circuit judge’s ruling that the Little Rock Police Department could not refuse to release its use-of-force reports requested under the FOI law. The reports were requested by an attorney for Chris Erwin, who was struck several times by Little Rock police Lt. David Hudson during an arrest outside a Little Rock restaurant on Oct. 29.
Visit Arkansas News for the rest.
EPA, Commerce take lead in developing "FOIA Portal"
A buzz is growing in the federal Freedom of Information community about a new $1.3 million “FOIA Portal” under development and slated for launch this fall. Thursday we got a chance to look under the hood a bit, as part of a group organized by the Office of Government of Information Services.
Visit Investigative Reporting Workshop for the rest.
Conn. high court rules university can withhold trade secrets
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in University of Connecticut v. Freedom of Information Commission that a public entity could invoke the trade secret exemption in the state freedom of information act to shield its own records from being released.
Visit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for the rest.
FOI requests trigger DOT investigation
Outside investigators will conduct a probe of the planning, real estate and record-keeping practices of the Delaware Department of Transportation as a result of new signs of poor document security and unexplained gaps in key files potentially involving millions in taxpayer dollars.
The investigation was triggered by a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by The News Journal in recent months involving agency land deals and the involvement of political figures in certain highway projects that affect commercial interests.
Visit Delaware Online for the rest.
From Summerville Patch:
Raising the hackles of watchdogs throughout the state, Rep. Chris Murphy of Summerville has proposed amendments to the state's Freedom of Information Act statute "to protect the integrity of the criminal trial process" and to bring it in line with federal and neighboring state laws.
The amendment, concerned primarily with law enforcement, was introduced Feb. 7 and currently sits in the House judiciary committee. The original law was passed in 1976.
From The Roanoke Times:
A state Senate committee killed legislation Wednesday that would put concealed handgun permit records off-limits to the public at local courthouses.
House Bill 25 would have prohibited circuit court clerks from disclosing information contained on a concealed handgun permit application or in an order approving a concealed handgun permit. The Senate Courts of Justice Committee killed the measure on an 8-7 vote Wednesday. The House of Delegates passed the measure last week by a vote of 81-17.
From NextGov:
The Homeland Security Department monitors social media sites, blogs and online comment threads to gather "situational awareness" about threats and emergencies, but it doesn't pull identifying information about average citizens out of those comments unless it's a "life or death situation," officials told a House panel Thursday.
The hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence follows news that an agency contractor mined Facebook, Twitter and the comments sections of online news articles in 2009 to gauge Standish, Mich., residents' thoughts about a short-lived proposal to move Guantanamo Bay prisoners to an area prison.
From The Wall Street Journal:
New York City has been cleared to release performance reports for thousands of teachers after a state court on Tuesday declined to hear a final appeal from the city’s teachers union to keep the information private.
The reports, which rate teachers against their peers, were created in 2008 under former Chancellor Joel Klein as part of a push to evaluate educators using student test scores. They use a complex formula to try to isolate each individual teacher’s effect on their students’ performance, adjusting for factors such as poverty, class size and absenteeism.
From ACLU:
Today the ACLU filed a batch of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to learn more about the government's practice of reading people's email, text messages and other private electronic communications without a warrant.
Here are several interesting items of note in the last couple days regarding costs associated with fulfilling public records requests—and the fighting thereof.
Granted, if not these then at least some agencies likely have used or will use costs—actual or estimated, reasonable or outlandish—as a way of deflecting criticism when requested records are not searched for adequately or are ultimately not located, and that is unacceptable.
Still, in our times, with budgets being slashed at all levels of government, it is incumbent upon us to give careful consideration as to just how we as a citizenry intend on paying for this little thing called open government while not allowing our public officials to use the cost of adhering to the law as an excuse to break it.
While we're on the subject, be sure to check out last week's National Security Archive post regarding the CIA's "covert operation against Declassification Review" and sign the petition from our friends at OpenTheGovernment.org to "restore accountability to the CIA's secrecy system."
More from around the states, below:
The California Assembly spent nearly $200,000 in legal fees fighting against disclosure of member-by-member budgets that allocate tens of millions in public funds, records show. Assembly administrator Jon Waldie said the sum does not include hundreds of hours, perhaps more than a thousand hours, consumed by Capitol employees in gathering records ultimately ordered released by a Sacramento court.
Finding out how the public uses Hawaii's open records law isn't easy. And it's not cheap either. And that's despite a state requirement that agencies send a report to the Hawaii Office of Information Practices every year about public records requests. Turns out virtually none of them are doing it.
Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) says it may be time to reset the state’s policy for handling requests for public documents. Haslam’s administration is examining how each department handles requests for public records, saying the state needs to standardize how it responds and charges for the labor and time to provide records.
Naperville City Council members say they support residents’ rights to access government information, but some believe smart grid opponents have gone too far. ... The total estimated staff time spent on replying to the requests and related legal issues is 1,475 hours through last Thursday. The city’s total cost so far is $73,750 at an estimated rate of $50 per hour.
From Wired:
A Senate staffer was tasked two years ago with compiling reports for a subcommittee about the number of times annually the Justice Department employed a covert internet and telephone surveillance method known as pen register and trap-and-trace capturing.
But the records, which the Justice Department is required to forward to Congress annually, were nowhere in sight.