CARSON CITY – Gov. Steve Sisolak signed public records access reform into law Thursday with changes designed to make it easier and cheaper for average citizens to view or obtain official documents from governments and public agencies and penalize those agencies when they don’t comply. Senate Bill 287, a candidate for underdog bill of the […]
Read More… from Sisolak signs public records reform bill into law
Nine months ago, Idaho embarked on a mission to create a user-friendly, searchable government expenditure database for residents. Transparent Idaho, designed by OpenGov, launched last week and features visual representations of agency spending, the ability to share findings on social media, a new desktop and mobile interface, and data that is updated nightly. OpenGov is […]
Read More… from Idaho Goes Live with OpenGov-Designed Transparency Portal
Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler is breaking the law whenever he and KCSO employees fulfill public records requests, Tennessee Coalition of Open Government Executive Director Deborah Fisher said Monday. This came after lawyers for the county defended its practice of charging residents for public records inspections, which the state comptroller says should be free. A […]
WESTMINSTER — Attorney General Maura Healey’s Office has determined that the Westminster Police Chief Screening Committee was in violation of Open Meeting Law for discussing certain issues during executive session. Committee member Harry Redkey initially filed the complaint with the Attorney General’s Office on Oct. 26. Redkey alleges that the committee entered into executive session […]
DERBY — City officials have promised to prepare a new written policy on how staffers comply with record requests, and to compel city workers to participate in an open government training session over the summer. The move is part of a compromise the city reached with The Valley Indy over Derby Building Inspector Carlo Sarmiento’s mishandling […]
Read More… from Derby Says Employees Will Take Open Government Refresher Course
CARSON CITY — An overhaul of state law governing public access to official records was rescued from near-defeat in a Senate committee late Friday, as amendments toning down its toughest provisions won unanimous consent to move it out to the full Senate. Senate Bill 287, parked in committee for weeks, looked all but dead in the face of opposition […]
Just because a record held by local government is considered exempt from the state’s Open Records Act does not mean that record cannot be released. To say it another way, even if the document is exempted from the Open Records Act, public officials can still release it. Last year, the state Supreme Court clearly said […]
CAPITAL REGION — For about the last five years or so it had been the policy of the Gloversville Police Department to release a digital mugshot — a photo of the accused — with nearly every arrest the department made. Gloversville Police Chief Marc Porter said releasing digital mugshots in the form of emails to […]
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The head of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government said Thursday the 111th state General Assembly “did no harm” to government transparency this year, but warned of possible threats to open government on the horizon. Deborah Fisher, executive director of the coalition, said Tennessee lawmakers “took a step in the right direction” for protecting open records during the first half of their […]
AUSTIN — Monday marked the end of the regular session for the state Legislature and along with major bills, some government transparency bills are headed to the Governors desk. Lawmakers approved a number of public information and open meeting initiatives. One aims to increase access to information about the spending of taxpayer dollars. (Read more here…) […]
Read More… from Texas lawmakers approve number of public information initiatives
