Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Sunshine?

In Arizona and Hawaii, efforts to shut down repeated open records requests renew the age-old debate whether requests should be limited so that government agencies can conduct business.

Readers of this blog know where we stand. The Congress Elementary School District's lawsuit against four women for harassment through records requests with repeated requests could have a chilling effect on democracy far beyond the small Arizona school district. Similarly, Hawaii's efforts to restrict the rights of a "vexatious requester" is equally disturbing.

Read more about these efforts here.

File this Under "Ridiculous" - Suing Citizens to Silence Complaints

An Arizona school district claims it has been so harassed by repeated public records requests that it has sued four community members, claiming they have abused the public records request system by filing more than 100 public records requests.

In its Complaint, the Congress Elementary School District also claims the community members are "engaged in a coordinated campaign to harass and impede the functioning" of the school system by filing more than ten complaints with the state's Board of Education, the County Sheriff, the Fire Marshall, the Ombudsman, and the Attorney General.

The defendants say the lawsuit is an illegal attempt to silence citizens who have questioned the district's policies and spending practices.

Read more about the suit here, including a link to the Complaint filed by the school district.

Arizona Lawmaker Seeks to Keep Secret an E-Mail Sender's Identity

An Arizona lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow elected and appointed government officials to keep secret the identity of those who e-mail them.

AZCentral.com quotes attorney Daniel Barr, a media law specialist, as saying the bill would be a step backward in the public records law, which already allows any appointed or elected official to remove any portion of a public record "if you can show the probability of harm to the interest of privacy, confidentiality or the best interest of the state."

For more, click here.

Former Arizona Diamondbacks Pitcher's Wife Died of a Cocaine Overdose

An Arizona Court of Appeals disclosed the cause of death for former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Scott Schoeneweis' wife in a ruling on whether an autopsy report and other records must be disclosed under Arizona's public records law.

Gabrielle Schoeneweis was found dead on May 20 in the couple's suburban Phoenix home. Her death was caused by an overdose of cocaine and an anesthetic, lidocaine.

Read more about it here.

Arizona is FIrst State to Make Metadata Available for Public Review

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that "if a public entity maintains a public record in an electronic format, then the electronic version, including any embedded metadata, is subject to disclosure under our public records law."  The Court did not decide when a public entity must keep information electronically, but if it does, then the entity should provide the native files.  

With its ruling, the Arizona Supreme Court is the first state to rule that metadata is available for public review.  

Metadata is hidden data about data that details a document's creation and revisions, showing when and who made such changes.  

Get more information here and here. 

NFOIC Summit: Arizona FOI roundup

State-by-state updates at the 2009 NFOIC Summit: David Cuillier of the Society of Professional Journalists provided a summary of Arizona's FOI news.

• Police agencies are redacting names in police reports. Some just leave in the first name. They're redacting addresses. They use the excuse that they're protecting suspected criminals from identity theft.
• The legislature proposed a policy whereby if someone requested records and didn't pick them up, that person would be banned for life for requesting records.
• There is also a proposal to limit access to online court records to Arizona citizens.
  

UA professor, FOI advocate honored

Congratulations to David Cuillier, assistant professor at The University of Arizona School of Journalism and chairman of the national Freedom of Information committee for SPJ. Cuillier won AEJMC's "Promising Professor" award and was recently named a research fellow for 2009-2010 by the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the UA.

An assistant professor in The University of Arizona School of Journalism took first place in the national "Promising Professor" faculty competition. The award is given by the Mass Communication Society division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, known as AEJMC.

David Cuillier, who teaches courses on public affairs reporting and computer-assisted reporting, will be honored as one of the nation's best and brightest teachers at AEJMC's national conference Aug. 5-8 in Boston. The competition was open to faculty who have taught no more than five years full-time. Cuillier also won the graduate student category of the competition in 2004 while a doctoral student at Washington State University.

At the conference, Cuillier will give a presentation about his teaching and present two research papers: one based on a study that shows skepticism is closely tied to support for freedom of information, and the other about teaching methods in journalism education. He also was invited to speak on a panel about press access to law enforcement information.

More here.

Arizona bill address technological formats

An Arizona bill would provide the opportunity for those who file records requests to receive the data on CD-ROM, in PDF, in spreadsheets or in other formats, so long as the public body keeps its records electronically, The Arizona Republic reported.

The question, "Paper or plastic?" is usually reserved for supermarket checkout lines, but a Senate bill could have public-records clerks using a similar refrain.

Authored by Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, Senate Bill 1305 would require public bodies that keep public records electronically to provide them upon request on CD-ROM or in another format.

The change would allow more efficient public access to records, said David Bodney, a media attorney with the Steptoe and Johnson LLP.

More here.

Ariz. sends mixed message about open government

In honor of Sunshine Week, the Arizona legislative leaders commended their own efforts to increase government transparency, the YumaSun (Ariz.) reported. However, the same day it was announced that reporters who cover the legislature will no longer be provided with space in Arizona Legislature buildings. The dozen or so reporters who use the space pay $77 per month, but the Senate president says the space is now needed for GOP caucuses.

Leaders of the Arizona Senate sent a mixed message about open government Monday at the start of "Sunshine Week," a nationwide event designed to focus attention of the public's right to know about the operations of its government agencies.

Senate President Bob Burns joined with fellow Senate Republicans to proclaim their commitment to open government, citing a number of pending bills that included ones for municipalities to provide searchable online databases listing expenses and a requirement to post open meeting notices online.

Certainly, making information more readily available to citizens, whether it be online or through other methods, is commendable. We will always applaud those efforts.

More here.

More state coverage of online availability survey

Survey: 65 percent of Minnesota government records online, Associated Press

When it comes to online access to state government records in Minnesota, the state is, well, slightly above average.

A survey by journalists and others found that 65 percent of the records checked were available online, compared to the national average of about 60 percent.

More here.

Tennessee not putting some public records online, Associated Press

While more and more government records are available with a few mouse clicks, Tennessee still does not provide some important state records and reports for free online.

A nationwide survey of state government information online found Tennessee, like many states, has no comprehensive database for state spending and doesn't put a variety of inspection reports online, including those for hospitals, child care centers and school buses and buildings.

More here.

Many key records available online, free in Colo., Associated Press

Coloradans can get a wide range of public records online at no charge, ranging from school test results to hospital inspection reports. But some key information is harder to find.

There's no single online source for school bus safety inspection reports, for example. And although death certificates are available online, it costs $9 more than getting them by mail or in person.

More here.

Public records easy to get in Arizona, study says, azfamily.com

When it comes to providing public records online, Arizona is one of the best in the nation.

A study by several journalism organizations found Arizona to be among the top 15 states in the nation for posting records on the internet.

More here.

SC 22nd in nation for online public records, Associated Press

Many of South Carolina's agencies are providing online access to public records - part of what appears to be a nationwide push to draw attention to the public's right to know what's going on in government.

Still, a new study shows that South Carolina trails 21 others that post more records online.

More here.

Since when did state open records laws not apply to county officials?

Officials in Maricopa County in Arizona may soon have to file an internal request for county records rather than using the open records law. Citizens and journalists will still have the right to file county requests through the state's FOI process but officials would have to explain how their request relates to their job. Aren't officials considered citizens also?

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday passed a resolution to try to force other county officials to go through an internal request for county records instead of using the state public-records law.

The move was in response to what the supervisors call "excessive" requests for information from the County Attorney's and Sheriff's offices, which the county claims are overly costly.

But the County Attorney's Office claims that the new policy is a way to skirt the state's public-records law.

More here.

Metadata Not Public, AZ Judge Rules

A divided Arizona appellate court ruled Tuesday that hidden electronic data that indicates how and when documents are produced with word processing computer programs aren't themselves public records.

The three-judge Court of Appeals panel's majority opinion rejected a dissenting judge's argument that a Phoenix police officer was entitled to "metadata" for notes written by a supervisor of the officer.

Metadata is data embedded in documents to track authors, when something was saved and what changes were made. Metadata isn't visible when a document is printed on paper nor does it appear on screen in normal settings.

The officer, David Lake, said he wanted the notes' metadata to see if the supervisor had backdated the notes to prior to Lake being demoted.

More here.

More on Police Records in Arizona (with an appearance by yours truly...)

Days after officials announced plans to censor personal information from Phoenix police reports, clerks redacted birth dates and addresses from some public documents while releasing suspects' Social Security numbers on others.

Other reports showed how a new records policy unveiled last week could limit the potential for identity theft by erasing precise addresses, telephone numbers and other information from the written public record.

Phoenix City Manager Frank Fairbanks said the city began restricting public documents, at the request of city attorneys, to comply with an Arizona law designed to protect residents' personal information. Officials will also consider redacting personal information from other public records, such as notices of neighborhood code-enforcement violations.

More here.

Secret Victims, Secret Perps = No One Knows Anything

Phoenix police will begin withholding certain basic information on both victims and criminal suspects in reports released to the public, saying it's a way of curbing identity theft.

Personal identifying information such as names of injured victims, birth dates of criminals and the addresses where crimes are committed will be redacted completely from the written public record in some cases, officials said Wednesday.

City attorneys who advised the Police Department on the policy shift said the idea is to balance Arizona public-records law with a newer state statute that cites the government's obligation to secure residents from identity poachers.

Police public-information officers said they will immediately begin identifying criminal suspects by name, age and race only - not by date of birth, even if they are booked into jail. Victims' dates of birth also would be withheld.

Some Good News (At Last!)

After a morning of new exemptions, some good news from Arizona:

The state Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would make public the disciplinary records of state employees.

On a voice vote, the Senate approved House Bill 2159 and amended it to say that employee phone numbers and addresses would remain private.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Tucson Republican, was introduced as part of a series of reforms to Child Protective Services following the deaths of two Tucson children, and the presumed death of a third local child, who were being monitored by the state agency.

More here.

Interesting FOI Developments in AZ....Well Worth a Read

How close did I come to getting arrested by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies today? As Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much."

The problem: I had the nerve to want to look at the same public records that sheriff's deputies were scouring at the City of Phoenix public records counter.

First, a little background.

You'll recall that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has been putting a lot of political heat on Sheriff Joe Arpaio in recent months, ripping Arpaio for conducting "crime-supression sweeps" that are really intended to find illegal immigrants. At a luncheon in March to honor Cesar Chavez, Gordon said the Sheriff's Office was doing little more than locking up "brown people with broken tail lights." He reiterated the theme in a May 2008 Latino Perspectives Magazine article, writing that Arpaio has "created a 'Sanctuary County for Felons' with his reckless priorities–that target brown skin and cracked tail lights– instead of killers and drug dealers."

Pretty harsh words, and when the sheriff gets attacked, he bites back. In late April, the Sheriff's Office put in a public records request for every e-mail obtained or received from the mayor and a bunch of his staff members, including City Manager Frank Fairbanks. Arpaio also wants to see the mayor's meeting calendar and cell phone records. As New Times columnist Sarah Fenske wrote last month, the request appears to be a fishing expedition for any records that could harm the mayor politically.

More here.

Arizona Proposal To Establish Open Disciplinary Records

House Bill 2159, sponsored by Rep. Kirk Adams (R-Mesa), would require public entities to maintain "records that are reasonably necessary or appropriate" to track disciplinary actions of public officers or public employees, including employee responses to the disciplinary actions.

The records would become subject to the Arizona Public Records Law and open for public inspection "unless inspection or disclosure of the records or information in the records is specifically prohibited pursuant to law."

While the bill arose from a desire to create transparency in the operations of Child Protective Services, it would affect all public entities, including state universities.

"In a perfect world, this bill should not be necessary," said attorney David Bodney, a partner with Steptoe & Johnson LLP who helped draft the bill. "The Arizona Public Records Law does not exempt disciplinary records from the public inspection.

More here.

In Arizona, A Move Toward Some Openness in Child Protective Services...

PHOENIX — A House panel voted Thursday to give the public more access to Child Protective Services records when a child is killed or seriously injured.

But some — including a Tucson legislator — want more.

HB 2765 requires the Department of Public Safety to provide information on request about any fatality or near fatality if it is "reasonably suspected" the assailant was a parent or guardian.

The bill sets up a series of procedures the agency would follow, sets some deadlines and also gives county prosecutors a chance to object if they believe the release would harm efforts to complete an investigation.

The legislation was approved by the House Committee on Human Services on a 7-1 vote.

Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson, who is sponsoring the measure crafted by CPS attorneys, said it is designed to balance the public's right to know with both the needs of county attorneys to successfully prosecute assailants as well as the restrictions of federal law that shield certain personal information from disclosure.

"I think there's real movement here," he said.

But Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, said the procedures in Hershberger's bill likely would delay the release of any information.

The legislation is in direct response to the deaths last year of Brandon Williams and Ariana and Tyler Payne in Tucson. It took a lawsuit by the Arizona Daily Star to force CPS to surrender the documents under the state's Public Records Law.

John Moody who represents the Arizona Newspapers Association said Hershberger's bill removes CPS documents from being subject to the Public Records Law and sets up an entirely separate procedure, one he believes is more cumbersome.

Attorney David Bodney, who represents The Arizona Republic, pointed out the Public Records Law requires documents to be surrendered "promptly." He said while there is no specific time frame, that is bound to be quicker than the procedures in Hershberger's bill.

That bill says that within seven days of a request, CPS must inform the county attorney or the law-enforcement agency reviewing the matter of the intent to release information. That agency then has seven days to decide whether it wants to review the materials before they go out.

Then CPS has another 30 days to gather the information.

What happens next depends on whether police or prosecutors want to redact certain information or object to the records going out, which lands the process in court.

Bodney called that "a bureaucratic maze of deadlines."

More here.

AZ lawmaker: "transparency breeds accountability" in

In a refreshing reversal of the many bills we've seen this year that seek to close records ostensibly to "protect" us, at least a few Arizona lawmakers see the light:

State lawmakers are moving to make some child-welfare records, court proceedings and state employee personnel records open to the public in an attempt to shine light on the actions of Child Protective Services.

The proposals are part of a package of bills expected to be introduced soon by Reps. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, and Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, in the wake of legislative hearings this fall on the deaths of three children from Tucson whose parents had been investigated by CPS.

The underlying theme of the bills, which were unveiled at a legislative committee hearing Tuesday, is that "transparency will breed accountability," Adams said.

One bill would open up records in cases of a death or near-death of a child. A judge could decide not to open the files for certain reasons, such as harm to the child or siblings...

Another bill being drafted would affect all state employees by opening more personnel and disciplinary records to the public, mirroring the standards used by cities and counties in Arizona, Paton said.

More here.

FOI At Work: A Great Series on a Shameful Secret...

Every year, Arizona teachers lose their jobs because they molest their students, say sexually inappropriate things, even sleep with them in some cases. But schools, protected by state law, routinely keep these incidents secret. And educators move on to other jobs with little consequence.

The East Valley Tribune takes a long look at the issue, thanks to a BUNCH of FOI requests. Be sure to check out the great searchable database of public records here.