Ill. governor finally signs FOI bill

After a bill to overhaul the state's FOI law sat on his desk for months, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed it into law, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported. The law gives the public access counselor the power to issue binding opinions as well as allows fines of up to $5,000 for FOI violations.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today overhauling the state’s freedom of information law.

The legislation has been sitting on Quinn’s desk for several months since squeaking out of the last legislative session at its very end.

The Chicago Sun Times reported that the new law plugs several loop holes in the current law, including giving the state's public access counselor the power to issue binding opinions in disputes over public records. Fines of up to $5,000 for violations of the law are also now possible, the newspaper said.

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Paterson veteos N.Y. Sunshine Law amendment

New York Gov. David Paterson vetoed a bill that would have allowed judges to fine public agencies for violating the state open meetings law and to invalidate votes and actions taken in those behind-closed-doors meetings, the AP reported. Paterson said he vetoed the bill because it allows for civil penalties to be imposed on local governments, meaning that taxpayers would bear the burden.

New York Gov. David Paterson has vetoed legislation that would have allowed judges to fine school boards, municipal councils and other public bodies up to $500 for violating the state open meetings law.

The measure, which passed the Assembly 142-1 and the Senate by voice vote, would have amended the so-called "Sunshine Law" law that allows judges to invalidate for "good cause" votes or actions taken behind closed doors.

The law is meant to ensure deliberations and decisions are public, with exceptions for personnel matters, litigation, contract negotiations and secret police activities. Formal votes to spend public money must be done in public.

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County faces $100 daily fine for withholding documents

For the first time ever, Washington's maximum fine of $100 per day for withholding documents was imposed on Mason County, The Olympian (Wash.) reported. The county was sued by a resident who sent five e-mail requests for documents about a highway project and sewer systems. The county replied to none of the requests and has argued that it didn't do so because the e-mails ended up in the public-records officer's junk e-mail file.

A judge has penalized Mason County $145,000 in fines and legal costs for its failure to comply with a resident’s records requests.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor ruled in October after a bench trial that the county violated state law when it didn’t produce public documents requested by Tahuya resident Harold Carey.

The fines imposed by Tabor last week included an unprecedented daily penalty of $100 for withholding some of the undisclosed documents. That’s the maximum fine allowed under state law, said attorney Greg Overstreet, whose law firm, Allied Law Group, represented Carey.

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School board members fined for violating open-meetings law

School board members in Spirit Lake, Iowa, who violated the state's open-meetings law twice must now pay $400 each in fines, the Des Moines Register reported. The first violation occurred when members met in a hotel lobby in Des Moines. The second offense referred to an incident in which members discussed the district's finances in a private meeting that had been scheduled to discuss the hiring process for a new superintendent. Citizens are now calling for the resignation of the involved members.

A Dickinson County judge on Monday ordered Spirit Lake school board members to pay $400 each for breaking the state's open-meetings law twice.

Taxpayers who mounted a case against the elected officials now want them to resign.

Board members broke the law in November 2007 when they held a meeting in the lobby of a hotel in Des Moines, 200 miles from Spirit Lake, District Judge John Duffy ruled.

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Tenn. bill to close handgun records passes House subcommittee

The Tennessee House subcommittee pushed along a bill to close gun-permit application records, The Tennessean reported. Next, the full House Judiciary Committee will discuss the bill, which allows $2,500 fines for disclosing the records.

A House subcommittee passed a series of gun-related bills Wednesday that would allow handgun carry permit holders to carry their guns in restaurants, wildlife areas and state, but not local, parks.

A bill that would close handgun records to the public also passed the House Judiciary Criminal Practice Subcommittee, where about a dozen gun bills were heard. The session was a victory for House Republicans. House Speaker Rep. Kent Williams, an Elizabethton Republican, attended in a show of support for a bill that would allow handguns in wildlife areas.

During the meeting Williams sided with Democratic Rep. Janis Sontany to encourage lawmakers to remove local parks from a bill that would allow handguns in parks throughout the state.

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Ill. attorney general tries to stop agencies from ignoring FOIA

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan continues pressing for more teeth in the state's FOIA, Legal Newsline reported.

Illinois government agencies should be fined up to $1,000 each time they refuse to allow citizens to view basic public records, the state attorney general says.

Calling for increased transparency in state and local government, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan told state lawmakers Wednesday that reforms are needed so agencies don't shirk their responsibilities under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Speaking to the recently-formed Joint Committee on Government Reform, the Democratic attorney general said ethics reforms in the Land of Lincoln are well overdue, following the ouster of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration routinely denied media and citizens' requests for basic public documents.

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Unanimous vote for tougher Ind. public records bill

After passing the Senate, a bill that would allow Indiana judges to fine those who blatantly violate public records laws moves to the House, The Indianapolis Star reported.

The Indiana Senate voted 49-0 today for a bill that seeks to put more teeth into Indiana’s public records laws.

Senate Bill 232, sponsored by Sen. Bev Gard, R-Greenfield, now goes to the House for consideration. The bill would allow for people who blatantly violate open records laws to be fined.

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Beware Indiana government employees: Violating FOI may cost you

Indiana government agencies and employees may soon face fines for violating the state's open meeting rules or public records laws. Currently, individuals may sue to obtain a document that hasn't been provided in response to a request but agencies and employees aren't punished.

A Statehouse proposal could impose fines of up to $1,000 on government agencies -- or their individual employees -- that blatantly violate Indiana's public access laws.

A Senate committee could vote next week on the legislation, which supporters say would put much-needed teeth into Indiana's open door law and public records rules.

The bill would allow judges to fine public agencies or agency workers who intentionally violate open meeting rules or public records laws, which are used by citizens and the media to obtain many government documents. An agency could pay for the fines from its budget, while a fine on an employee would come from the worker's wallet.

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