Public employees asked to provide common records during a statewide test of Ohio's open records laws in April followed the law in nine of every 10 requests, according to audit results that found much higher compliance than a similar survey a decade ago.
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Read More… from Statewide public records audit conducted in Ohio
The good news for Ohioans is that public officials seem to be following the state's open records law much better than was the case several years ago.
But the bad news is that sometimes, Buckeye State residents still are refused access to documents. That is unacceptable.
Journalists fanned out throughout Ohio this spring, in an open records "audit" conducted through the state Coalition for Open Government. Public officials were asked in all 88 counties to provide documents and information covered under the state open records law.
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From Dennis Hetzel, president of Ohio Coalition for Open Government: As most of you know, major revisions happened to Ohio’s laws involving public notices in 2011, and we still get a lot of member questions. This is a subject that never goes away, and that makes sense.
First of all, there is a reason why the word “public” is in public notices.
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Read More… from ONA completes thorough revise of ‘Public Notice FAQ’
From Ohio Newspaper Association: The board of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government has voted to support appeals in two Cincinnati-area cases involving Enquirer Media.
One case involves access to 911 calls and the other involves a Hamilton County juvenile court judge who was found in contempt after barring a reporter from her courtroom and attempting to ban publication or broadcast of the alleged offenders’ name.
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Read More… from OCOG to support Enquirer in major open government cases
From Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association: For numerous reasons that should be obvious to ONA Bulletin readers, we think it is important to find ways to raise the profile of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, which is a non-profit group under the umbrella of our Ohio Newspapers Foundation.
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Read More… from Ohio Coalition for Open Government is on the move
From The Blade via Ohio Newspaper Association: Local cities and townships can now meet secretly behind closed doors to discuss economic development deals with businesses under a provision tucked into the just-signed state budget.
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From Cleveland.com: Government in Ohio is supposed to conduct business for the people in public, but several measures being considered by the General Assembly would dim the spotlight that keeps public officials’ actions illuminated.
One open government advocate estimates that lawmakers have proposed at least 10 measures that would affect Ohioans’ ability to keep watch on their government.
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Read More… from Changes pending could reduce Ohioans’ access to public records and meetings
From The Columbus Dispatch:
When Ohio lawmakers declared in 1963 that government records belong to the people, there was only one exception in the public-records law — medical records.
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As the national Sunshine Week celebration of transparency begins today, Ohioans have above-average rights to public records and open meetings, according to national ratings, but access isn’t what it used to be.
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Read More… from Ohio government turning out the lights on information
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:
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for November 9, 2012
