Opinion from The Nashville City Paper:
For months last year, I kept asking members of the Coalition for Open Government and the Tennessee Press Association if they knew anything about the history of the Tennessee Public Records Act of 1957.
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Tag: Sunshine Week 2013
Local FOIA requests center on hot-button issues
From Daily Chronicle:
Local governments in DeKalb County received at least 700 FOIA requests from residents from around the country in the six months between Oct. 4, 2012, and March 4.
In commemoration of Sunshine Week, a nationwide movement dedicated to open government, the Daily Chronicle filed FOIA requests with local governments to see how people used the common information tool.
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A public-records primer: How to make a request
From The Columbus Dispatch:
In celebration of Sunshine Week, here’s a primer on making public-records requests in Ohio. It’s your government, your money, your records. Government merely is the custodian of the people’s records — not the owner.
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California transparency and open government movement finds its roots in Brown Act
From California Forward:
In the early 1950s, Ralph Brown, a California state assemblyman and lawyer from Modesto, was negotiating a deal between nurses and management at a local hospital. The hospital directors reneged behind closed doors at the last minute, tanking the entire negotiation.
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For Sunshine Week, California watchdogs get a free open government guide
From MMDNewsWire.com:
As national Sunshine Week begins, Californians interested in using their laws to keep an eye on city hall and other local and state public agencies can get a free 50-page how-to guide from the state's premier open government resource center.
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NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for March 15, 2013
Text messages as public records: A new set of issues
From Gainesville.com:
Most people who are used to sending text messages fire them off without a second thought.
But for public officials, the technology brings more than just convenient communication. It also raises concerns and possible conflicts between personal privacy and open records laws.
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National Freedom of Information Day at the Newseum in Washington
From the Newseum:
WASHINGTON — The 15th annual National Freedom of Information Day conference to be held at the Newseum will bring together groups concerned with freedom of information and open records, including FOI advocates, government officials, lawyers, librarians, journalists and educators.
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