FOI Advocate Blog

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

Opinion: 514 days later, no use for records

A year and a half is a long time to wait for most things, but especially something that the state of North Carolina requires be given to you quickly. On Thursday, the University finally complied with a public records request I made in the fall of 2011 — a whopping 514 days after submission.

Visit The Daily Tar Heel for the rest.

State sues City of Huntington for FOIA request denial

HUNTINGTON – The State of West Virginia, by way of Charleston attorney Michael T. Clifford, is suing the City of Huntington for refusing to release records requested through the Freedom of Information Act. Clifford represents the Estate of Joshua Jonnie Emerson, who was shot to death by Huntington Police Officer Stephen Fitz on Dec. 22, according to a complaint filed March 28 in Cabell Circuit Court.

Visit The West Virginia Record for the rest.

Death certificates should stay public

On Friday, the General Assembly's public health committee will vote on a bill that would wrongly restrict public access to death certificates of children under 18. The bill represents an understandable but fraught and unwise reaction by some local officials to the slaughter of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Dec. 14.

Visit Hartford Courant for the rest.

Maine official: I was harassed for not shredding public documents

AUGUSTA — ‪A division director at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has filed a discrimination claim with the Maine Human Rights Commission, alleging that senior managers assaulted and harassed her after she refused an order to shred public records. Sharon Leahy-Lind of Portland, director of the CDC's Division of Local Public Health, alleges in the complaint that her supervisor, CDC Deputy Director Christine Zukas, told her last spring to shred documents related to the competitive awards of funding to health outreach nonprofits under the Healthy Maine Partnership. She did not comply, believing it would be illegal.

Visit Kennebec Journal for the rest.

Oakland Code for America: Building a better public requests system (Community Voices)

Humans are profoundly resourceful and, at a basic level, selfish. We all have needs that must get filled. ... One of the spaces that my teammates and I researched in February, and are now working on a solution for, is the way the city of Oakland handles public records requests. There are many channels in which record requests are currently being made and many channels through which they get fulfilled.

Visit Oakland Local for the rest.

Indiana Senate committee amends bill setting fees for public records

An Indiana Senate committee today passed an amendment to a bill that would allow state and local government agencies to charge members of the public up to $20 an hour to search for public records. The Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee voted 9-1 to amend House Bill 1175 with language that would let people use cellphones or other hand-held devices to take pictures of their own documents such as property records while inside county recorders’ offices.

Visit Indianapolis Star for the rest.

City releases consultant's report about police outsourcing

Last year City Council hired Management Consultants to review proposals for potential police outsourcing to save money in Pacifica's budget, but the consultant's report was not made public. The two proposals the city received, one from South San Francisco and one from the San Mateo County Sheriff, were made public, but an overview of the proposals made by the consultant was never released. The city attorney, Michelle Kenyon, maintained the report was private under attorney-client privilege because it pertained to employee negotiations. The Pacifica Tribune filed a request to see the report under the Freedom of Information Act. The request was denied by Michael Guina of Kenyon's law firm, Burke, Williams and Sorenstein in this letter dated Sept. 28, 2012.

Visit Mercury News for the rest.

Fallin clashes again with media over records requests

Being governor of Oklahoma has its privileges, which is the case in every other state as well. But apparently the Oklahoma governor has a few more privileges than most governors have. At least, that seems to be Gov. Mary Fallin's view. For example, when reporters demand public records under the state Open Records Act, Fallin can release the ones she feels comfortable releasing, and then claim she has "executive privilege" or "deliberative process privilege" or some other such privilege to keep other records from public view.

Visit Tulsa World for the rest.

Advocate sues LSU over president search records

The Advocate and LSU’s student newspaper filed public records lawsuits against the LSU Board of Supervisors on Monday, seeking documents related to LSU’s search for a new president of the state’s flagship university. That search, conducted largely in secret, yielded F. King Alexander — president of Cal State University in Long Beach, Calif. — as the sole finalist for LSU’s top post.

Visit The Advocate for the rest.

TEXAS VIEW: Attack of Open Meetings Act ends

The U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t have time for speciousness and frivolity. We wish we could say the same for public officials from 15 Texas cities, including Rockport. They spent nearly nine years trying to undermine the Texas Open Meetings Act until the court put an abrupt stop to it last Monday by declining to review their case. The plaintiffs argued that this cherished bulwark of the principle of open government violated another cherished right — theirs to free speech. How? Well, apparently the notion that two Alpine city councilwomen shouldn’t have emailed each other and two other council members privately to discuss official city business, and that they could have faced criminal penalties for having done so, was a tyrannical threat to the First Amendment.

Visit Odessa American for the rest.

From The Progressive Pulse:

Public records in the North Carolina offer a chance to peer into the depths of state government, and see what is and what isn’t working.

It’s what I use daily in the work I do here as an investigative reporter at N.C. Policy Watch. Access to public records have proven instrumental in reporting pieces I’ve done about the (now former) state legislator who benefitted substantially from a federally- funded non-profit he ran, a Winston-Salem public charter school that recruited basketball players from around the world and a trip to Florida that an educational reform lobbying group paid for a group of lawmakers to go on last year.

This week being Sunshine Week, the annual check-in to see how open and transparent governments are, I thought it a good a time as any to wax poetic about the virtues of transparency.

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

Supreme Court rules against Scioto County records request

The Ohio Supreme Court batted down a public-records request by a Portsmouth businessman seeking deed and other information from Scioto County Engineer Craig Opperman. By a 6-1 decision yesterday, the court ruled that Opperman did not have to give Portsmouth real-estate appraiser Robert Gambill a copy of the county’s electronic database of deed information and aerial photos of all Scioto County property. The court said that by offering Gambill a copy provided that he pay a $2,000 fee, the engineer had met requirements in the Ohio Public Records Act.

Visit The Columbus Dispatch for the rest.

Texas lawmakers entering 'Twitter age' with Open Meetings upgrade

AUSTIN — Attorney General Greg Abbott endorsed a proposal Thursday that would free up the state's elected officials to discuss public business electronically, provided they do so in open, online forums. The measure, filed by state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is only the latest attempt to update Texas' public information laws for the Information Age.

Visit MySanAntonio.com for the rest.

Residents fight town records fees

MIDDLESEX, N.C. — Two outspoken residents say they’re the reason town officials now charge up to $26 per hour for copies of public records. Brandie Holt and Robert Johnson said their requests for information on park maintenance led Middlesex commissioners to begin charging a service fee for records requests that take more than a half-hour to fulfill. An attorney says the town policy may violate state public records laws.

Visit The Wilson Times for the rest.

N.M. legislature to hold hearing on public records policy

Legislative leaders have spent the session quietly drafting a controversial but innocuous-sounding rule about “legislative information.” Few legislators, outside of leadership, know about this rule, which is the only agenda item for a rarely-convened committee that will meet tomorrow morning. House Minority Leader Don Bratton and Speaker of the House Ken Martinez dropped House Concurrent Resolution 1 on Monday. ... HCR 1 makes the Legislative Council Service “the custodian of the records of the legislature.” LCS will fulfill “requests under the Inspection of Public Records Acts.” The bill also says lawmakers have constitutional “privileges and immunities” and “exercise authority collectively.”

Visit Santa Fe Reporter for the rest.

ACLU of Utah files public records requests for info on police use of military weapons, tactics

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's affiliate of the ACLU joined 22 other chapters around the country in launching an investigation into local police use of military technology and tactics. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah has filed public records requests with 19 police agencies in the state, including the Utah National Guard. The requests ask for information about how they are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics.

Visit The Republic for the rest.

From Winston-Salem Journal:

[...]

 

State Rep. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, has introduced the bill that would make public the arrest records of police agencies at the state’s private colleges and universities. That is essentially the same information that municipal police agencies now provide to the public and the news media.

 

[...]

 

The bill also coincides with the state Supreme Court’s pending decision about whether campus police at private colleges must be publicly transparent with their records.

 

“It (the bill) says basically that private colleges will give to the press that same thing as public colleges,” Daughtry said. “It has good chance because I don’t know anyone who is against it.”

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

Proposal would make violations of open records, public meetings laws a misdemeanor in North Carolina

State Sen. Tom Apodaca is sponsoring a bill that would make violations of the state's open records and public meetings laws a misdemeanor. Currently, civil action is the only way to enforce those laws. Cosponsored by Sen. Thom Goolsby of Wilmington, the bill makes it a class 3 misdemeanor to deny access to public records or to violate the open meetings law. A class 3 misdemeanor carries a maximum $200 fine and up to 10 days of community service on the first offense. Currently, if a citizen or organization can't obtain a public record or government is violating open meetings law, they have to pursue a lawsuit themselves.

Visit Mountain Xpress for the rest.

Bill blocking public access to gun permit info on Mississippi governor’s desk

The Mississippi House yesterday sent the governor a bill to block public access to information about state-issued permits for people to carry concealed weapons. The move comes even as the Department of Public Safety has delayed responding to Freedom of Information requests for the records. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to sign House Bill 485, which is supported by the National Rifle Association. It has been backed by lawmakers upset that a newspaper in New York published the names and addresses of people who have concealed weapons permits. Supporters say allowing open records violates gun owners’ privacy.

Visit Mississippi Business Journal for the rest.

Bills make Va. government less visible, some worry

Consider this: While legislators at the General Assembly ostensibly did the people's business this winter in Richmond, many of their bills effectively restricted the right to obtain government records. The Assembly approved several bills to peel away provisions of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act that provide access to such documents. Among them are measures to exempt the correspondence of legislators' aides from public disclosure, and to close off public access to concealed-handgun-permit data kept at courthouses. ... "There's a whittling away every year, just in different ways and coming from different directions," said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.

Visit PilotOnline.com for the rest.

Editorial: (Mo.) Bill reinforces fact public records are public property

A bill making its way through the Legislature should help make sure public entities don't abuse their right to reasonable reimbursement for public access to public records. The bill, LB363, keeps state agencies and public entities from charging unreasonable amounts for such access. Sen. Scott Price of Bellevue cited one example where a person was charged more than $600 for 14 pieces of paper because of the legal costs that entity said would be required for the record retrieval. As always, Sen. Ernie Chambers described the issue eloquently: "One of the worst places where public officials offend is when they hold information from the public."

Visit McCook Daily Gazette for the rest.

Big Data, Open Government, and Sunlight in the states

Open States is the latest in a collection of Big Data-open government analysis tools from Sunlight Foundation. It has taken Sunlight Labs 4 years to scrape legislative data from 50 state websites (plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), collect, sift, standardize, and make it all available in a single, comprehensive database that can be queried online by anyone via Open States API. Individuals can use Open States at its most basic level to find who represents them in their state legislature, explore a legislator’s position on any bill, and get alerts when related legislation is introduced. Beyond contact information, Open States lists committee memberships, bill sponsorship, campaign contributions in the two most recent election cycles, coverage in the media (news and blogs), and recent votes.

Visit Information Today, Inc. for the rest.

(Wisc.) State panel raises concerns about bill allowing charges for public records redactions

Government agencies could once again attempt to charge sizable fees as part of the release of public records on subjects such as police and crime, under a bill that came before an Assembly committee Wednesday. Republicans as well as one Democrat on the Assembly Committee on Government Operations expressed concern about the legislation, which would allow government agencies to charge new fees for blacking out private information from records before they are released. Some government officials say they need the added fees to deal with large requests and not pass the costs on to taxpayers.

Visit Journal Sentinel for the rest.

Public records law faces budget ax in California

The public’s right to know may again become the victim of California’s budget troubles. Last year, the state decided it would not reimburse local governments for the cost of notifying the public about government meetings, to save about $20 million a year. Because the California constitution prevents the state from imposing mandates without funding them, the cut in funding suspended parts of open-meetings law. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget to take effect this summer continues that situation — and would now invalidate certain public-records requirements as well.

Visit UTSanDiego.com for the rest.

News results show papers displeased with state sunshine laws

A Google News search reveals that one issue on the top of newspaper reporter’s topic list is the strength and weaknesses of public records and open meetings laws. Last week, I wrote about The Post-Bulletin in Minnesota which reported on an illegal closed meeting of the Pine Island City Council. A search for “public records open meetings” yields several headlines relating to the strength of state sunshine laws. Included is another story about a paper noticing the flaws in state transparency.

Visit Sunshine Review for the rest.