N.M. launches prototype of open government website

from Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:

New Mexico went live Dec. 16 with a prototype of its planned online open government resource called the Sunshine Portal. The website, which is scheduled to go fully live on July 1, 2011, opens to journalists and citizens information that otherwise might take weeks or months to gain access to through information requests.

The site contains information related to the state's revenue, expenditures, investments, budget and employee salaries. The information contained on the site is provided by 11 state offices including the governor's office, the Department of Finance and Administration, the Department of Tax and Revenue and the State Personnel Office.

The information on the Sunshine Portal is organized into a spreadsheet and the site appears easy to navigate. Because it's a prototype, the site warns that the information currently available isn't necessarily accurate or up-to-date. New Mexico is soliciting comments on the site's functionality and will continue to do so as it is edited during the next seven months.

Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government said she was "really impressed" with the site when she saw it. "The bill [that mandated the site's creation] was a framework and they really did a good job of making it user-friendly."

Read the rest here.

NFOIC awards Knight FOI Fund litigation grant in New Mexico public records suit

from NFOIC.org:

A weekly newspaper in New Mexico has been awarded a litigation grant from the Knight FOI Fund to press a legal action against a state college for disregarding basic requirements of that state's "sunshine law."

The $11,000 grant to the Rio Grande Sun newspaper was announced by the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC), which administers the Fund that was created by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The grant was the first awarded for a New Mexico case since the Fund was established.

The award was made to defray the Rio Grande Sun's legal costs in a lawsuit brought against the Board of Regents and administration of Northern New Mexico College, a four-year, state-supported institution that has campuses in Española, NM, and El Rito, NM.

According to the complaint filed in Rio Arriba County District Court, the college has for more than six months ignored and rebuffed reporter Louis Mattei's requests for records, disregarding the New Mexico Inspection of Public Record Act's disclosure requirement and even its statutory response deadlines.

"The allegations in the complaint are outrageous. This kind of blatant disregard for public disclosure laws cannot be tolerated," said Kenneth F. Bunting, executive director of the NFOIC. "The Knight FOI Fund is there to make certain that, even in tough economic times, challenges of this sort get made, and that public officials who don't understand their obligation to be forthcoming about the public's business do not get to make up their rules."

Read more here.

Co-op goes ahead with court action

from El Defensor Chieftain:

The New Mexico Foundation of Open Government has been keeping a close eye on the dispute between the Socorro Electric Cooperative and its member-owners.

Notified that the Co-op followed through with a lawsuit challenging the validity of three bylaws overwhelming passed by member-owners at the annual meeting in April, NMFOG Executive Director Sarah Welsh responded with an e-mail to El Defensor Chieftain.

“It’s unfortunate that the SEC Board of Trustees has now decided to take its own members to court, seemingly to block access to basic information about how the corporation is being run. It’s certainly an interesting use of the members’ money,” she wrote in the July 8 e-mail.

Read the rest here.

New Mexico Attorney General Says Governor Potentially Violated Open Records Laws

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King says Gov. Bill Richardson's office may have violated the state's open records laws when it did not disclose the names of workers who lost their jobs, the agencies they worked for or their salaries in response to news media requests for that information. Richardson disagrees with the attorney general's opinion.

Read more here.

New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Awards Announced

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government awarded state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones the 2010 William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Award for her efforts to force webcasting at the state Legislature. Arnold-Jones won in the category for law and government.

Heath Haussamen of NMPolitics.net nominated Arnold-Jones, writing "it's rare for an elected official to stand up to a broken system in such a courageous manner and start a movement that so dramatically changes things."

Other award winners this year include Norman Becker, president and CEO of New Mexico Mutual; Winston Brooks, superintendent of the Albuquerque Public Schools; attorney Hal Simmons; and Robert B. Trapp, managing editor of the Rio Grande Sun.

For more about the awards, click here.

In New Mexico, Emails About Public Business are Public Information Regardless of Account Used

Emails between the mayor and city councilors of Las Vegas have been released following a ruling by the New Mexico Attorney General. The attorney general 's office stated that emails regarding "public business" are "public information," even if the emails were sent by officials using a private computer, and thus, are subject to disclosure.

Click here for more information.

Electronic requests now accepted in N.M.

The New Mexico governor signed a bill that requires the acceptance of electronic public records requests, the Student Press Law Center reported. The bill was filed after New Mexico State University refused to acknowledge an e-mailed request.

Government agencies in New Mexico will have to accept electronic requests for public records after the governor signed a bill April 3 inspired by a state university's rejection of an e-mail request.

House Bill 598, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, states that communication by e-mail or fax qualifies as a "written" request required under state law.

"Government actors should not be able to rely on artificial barriers to avoid making public records available to the public," Cervantes said following a 64-0 House of Representatives vote on March 4, according to the New Mexico Independent. "With this legislation, no government actor can hide behind an argument that a records request must be printed and mailed or hand-delivered to constitute a valid request."

More here.

N.M. opens final bill negotiations process

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill into law that requires the recognition of e-mailed or faxed records requests and opens the final bill negotiations process, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported. However, a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate can still close these sessions.

Public records requests in New Mexico can now be made over e-mail or by fax, and state lawmakers will open their final bill negotiations process, in two pro-transparency changes Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law last week.

According to the Associated Press and the First Amendment Center, the public records bill follows a 2007 state attorney general's advisory opinion saying records requests need not be made on paper. The New Mexico State University had reportedly refused to accept an e-mailed request.

Regarding the legislative negotiations, according to the news report, lawmakers decided to open the conference committees that hash out the final drafts of bills when the House and Senate versions do not exactly match. A two-thirds majority vote in both chambers can still close the meetings.

More here.

N.M. to recognize FOI requests via e-mail, fax

Beginning June 19, New Mexico institutions and agencies will be required to treat e-mailed or faxed requests just as if they were submitted in writing, KOB (New Mexico) reported.

A new state law will require governmental institutions and agencies to accept e-mailed and faxed requests for public records.

Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Friday that makes clear that an e-mail or fax must be treated the same as written requests under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.

Attorney General Gary King advocated the change in law, which will take effect June 19. In 2007, King's office issued an advisory opinion saying governmental bodies can accept e-mail requests for records although the law didn't explicitly require it.

More here.

N. M. House approves bill to okay requests via e-mail

Should it really matter whether an FOI request is filed via e-mail or paper? The New Mexico House doesn't think so, the New Mexico Independent reported.

The New Mexico House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would make an e-mail the legal equivalent of a paper request for public documents.

The legislation is needed because some state agencies in the past have not accepted e-mails as a legally acceptable way to request documents.

A similar bill that would accomplish much the same thing, and shorten the period a public agency has to respond to a request for information, has been delayed. That bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, was larded with exemptions to the state’s public records act.

More here.

Changes to N.M. open government bill 'cripple' it

A New Mexico bill promoting transparency has turned sour for open-government advocates, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The proposed bill was intended to reduce the time agencies have to produce the information from FOI requests (from 15 days to 10) and clarify that requests can be made via e-mail. The bill's sponsor, Ken Martinez, is now trying to restore the bill after a substitute by the House Health and Government Affairs Committee stripped out the quicker-release provision and added in new exemptions, which would allow the denial of public records to someone a public body is in litigation with. The exemptions tend to be broad, such as exempting "records of a public body, that, by their nature, must be confidential in order for the public body to avoid the frustration or a legitimate government function."

Open-government and press advocates say proposed new exemptions to the state's public records law have made a good government bill turn bad.

House Bill 507, sponsored by House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, aimed to speed up the response time for getting public records, as well as make clear that e-mail can be used to make a formal request under the act.

But a committee substitute for the measure being pushed by executive agencies under the Richardson administration stripped out the quicker-release-of-records provision from the bill. Meanwhile, the new bill would create new exemptions to the Inspection of Public Records Act — changes that Martinez cannot support and never intended.

More here.

N.M. on route to accepting FOI requests electronically

Although some states already fill requests sent via electronic methods, the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act currently "requires response to 'oral' and 'written' requests for public records," the New Mexico Independent reported. The bill now moves to the House Judiciary Committee.

A bill that would require government agencies in New Mexico to accept requests for public records via e-mail and fax cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday.

House Bill 598, sponsored by state Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, was given a do-pass recommendation by the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on a vote of 6-1, with only state Rep. Zachary Cook, R-Ruidoso, voting against it.

“The citizens in our state should have ready access to government documents without artificial barriers,” Cervantes said following Tuesday’s vote. “E-mail is an integral and accepted means of communication, and no less so than a mailed letter or postcard.”

More here.

N.M. Finance Authority refuses to turn over subpoenas

Even though other state agencies have forked over subpoenas requested, the New Mexico Finance Authority refuses to do so, stating that it would impede an ongoing federal investigation. The New Mexico Independent newspaper had filed two public records requests for subpoenas issued in the federal investigation of the Richardson administration and all subpoenas related to any federal investigation and the documents the subpoenas requested.

Though at least two other state agencies have publicly released similar documents, the New Mexico Finance Authority is refusing to hand over subpoenas it has been issued in the federal investigation into allegations of pay-to-play in the Richardson administration.

The finance authority also refuses to release the documents sought by such subpoenas.

NMI sought the records in two separate requests made under the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act. The first, a narrow request, sought only subpoenas that have been issued in the federal investigation. The second, broader request sought all subpoenas related to any federal investigation received by the finance authority, and all documents requested in those subpoenas.

More here.

NFOIC awards new grants to state coalitions

For immediate release

CONTACT:
Charles N. Davis
Executive Director, National Freedom of Information Coalition
daviscn@missouri.edu
573.882.5736
http://nfoic.org/

Columbia, MO -- The National Freedom of Information Coalition awarded new grants at its December board meeting in Columbia, Missouri, and it's an impressive list of worthwhile activities and projects that will be funded.

Meeting for the first time at the brand new Reynold Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism in December of 2008, the NFOIC board awarded eight grants to eight coalitions for a total of $69,820 in this the first of two grant award periods....

Full release here:

https://www.nfoic.org/nfoic-awards-new-grants

New Mexico Next on FOI Reform?

Attorney General Gary King plans to ask the Legislature next year to update a New Mexico sunshine law providing access to public records.

One change proposed by King will require governmental bodies to accept e-mail requests for documents under the Inspection of Public Records Act. Currently, the law is unclear whether e-mail are the same as a written request for public records, according to the attorney general's office.

"So what we're going to be working on is a total revamp of that part of the law so that it meets 21st century standards," King said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Last year, King's office issued an advisory opinion on the issue after New Mexico State University decided not to treat e-mail as a valid request for public records.

"I think that agencies, if they want to, can accept e-mail requests because you can print them out and turn them into a written request basically. But we just didn't think that the law required it," King said.

The attorney general's office and some other agencies accept e-mailed requests for public records.

More here.