From Planet Princeton:
(February 7, 2013) – The New Jersey Senate is slated to vote on changes to the State’s Open Public Records Act today that are supposed to provide citizens with more access to public records. But many open government advocates no longer support the bill because of a key change regarding legal fees. The New Jersey Press Association also opposes the legal fee change.
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Read More… from NJ Senate to vote on open public records bill this afternoon
From HudsonReporter.com:
The Board of Education is investigating whether board trustee Dora Marra committed an ethics violation by allegedly distributing school board business-related documents to former board trustee Tom Troyer, according to board president Jack McStowe.
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From MyCentralJersey.com:
MANVILLE (Nov 26, 2012) — What are they trying to hide?
That’s a question libertarian activist John Paff says he is trying to get answered through a lawsuit he filed last week in state Superior Court.
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Read More… from Manville police sued by activist over access to investigation records
From NorthJersey.com:
A two-judge panel ruled Thursday that the New Jersey’s open public records law does not apply to the Port Authority. The appellate judges affirmed a trial judge’s decision that the state doesn’t have the right to unilaterally impose a law on a bistate agency that also serves New York.
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Read More… from Judges: N.J.’s open public records law doesn’t apply to Port Authority
From North Jersey:
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS – Nearly three weeks after the borough council took steps to raise the cost of an open records request from 5 to 25 cents a page, residents are still paying the lower rate for copies of public records while the council finds out if the increase is legal.
“The next step is to find out if we can do it,” Council President Joseph Favaro said Wednesday.
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From Lehigh Valley:
A lawsuit against Warren County Community College is back on the statewide Internet database after a complaint from a public records advocate.
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Read More… from Warren County Community College lawsuit now searchable online
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:
Reverse surveillance: ACLU-NJ’s police tape app lets you secretly record any video interactions with cops
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From Philly.com:
TRENTON — William Scott Jr. was concerned about a housing development being built near his Montclair home by a politically connected nonprofit. He filed an open records request to try to figure out how the nonprofit secured a big government construction grant from Essex County, even though it applied past the deadline.
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Read More… from New Jersey’s inscrutable open-records umpire
From NorthJersey.com:
The governing body opposed revisions to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) over claims the legislation would make government "less effective."
An open government activist, however, contends that the borough has raised "non-issues" and "red herrings" in order to mislead the public.
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Read More… from Fair Lawn Council opposes changes to Open Public Records Act
