Delaware Public Service Commission proposes new rules for info requests

from delawareonline:

Anyone seeking documents from the Delaware Public Service Commission should prepare to ask for them the old-fashioned way -- and pay for them.

David L. Bonar, the PSC ombudsman, said the changes are needed because people have dashed off information requests through e-mail, resulting in a large use of staff time. The proposal would require people to put in some thought and consideration, rather than "in a moment of anger, sending us requests for volumes of information," Bonar said.

Read more here.

Delaware FOIA: Bill to strengthen law passes through the House

from Delmarvanow.com: DOVER — To address a long-running issue with the state’s Freedom of Information Act, Attorney General Beau Biden strongly supported legislation championed by Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca, House Speaker Robert Gilligan and Sen. Karen Peterson to strengthen FOIA.

Senate Bill 283 allows the Attorney General’s office to intervene on behalf of citizens in FOIA disputes with state agencies if the agency fails to comply with the office’s advice to produce the requested records.

Under current law, citizens themselves are required to file a lawsuit in FOIA disputes with state agencies.

Read more here.

Delaware House Considers Setting a 10-Day Compliance Deadline for State FOIA Requests

Delaware Online reports that a Delaware House committee has approved a bill giving public agencies 10 days to respond to public records requests as a way to help correct existing FOIA law in Delaware that does not set a compliance deadline for FOIA requests.

The bill will be considered by the full Delaware House.

Click here for more information.

Delaware Representative Wants Quicker FOIA Responses

A Delaware state representative has pre-filed a bill designed to ensure timely responses to FOIA requests. House Bill 300 would establish a deadline of 10 business days for government agencies and public entities to respond to FOIA requests.

Click here for more, including an audio report.

NFOIC Summit: Delaware FOI roundup

State-by-state updates at the 2009 NFOIC Summit: Coralie Pryde of Delaware Coalition for Open Government provided a summary of her state's FOI news.

• Delaware is deeply in need of a better FOI. There are access problems with the family courts and attorney general.
• The agenda for the Sustainable Energy Utility Oversight Board is usually sparse. One can never tell when the board will go into executive session.
• Delaware now has one foot in the door When the state FOI policy was developed, the legislature totally exempted itself. Sen. Karen Peterson helped get a stronger open government bill passed. It's now on the governor's desk, and we expect him to sign it. E-mails of legislators are off limits and some caucuses are off limits, but it's a real victory.
  

Del. Senate supports 'unconstitutional' open-government bill

The Delaware Senate approved a bill that would stop budget writing committees from having closed-door meetings but would keep communications by legislators private, the AP reported. Senate attorney Jeff Clark warned that the bill was unconstitutional because members of one legislative chamber cannot bind the other through statute and a current legislature can't pass a law that controls future sessions of the General Assembly.

The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a House bill aimed at making the legislature more transparent to the public despite being told by a staff attorney that the bill is unconstitutional.

Two members of the Democratic majority openly admitted they were voting for the bill because of how they might be perceived by the public.

“For the sake of perception, we can probably do this,” said Sen. Harris McDowell III, D-Wilmington, after reminding colleagues of their attorney’s opinion.

More here.

Del. open government bill would exempt legislators' e-mails

Oh, the irony! Sure, the bill would subject the Delaware General Assembly to FOIA, meaning that the legislature would no longer be exempt from open-meeting laws. However, an amendment would exempt from FOIA all e-mails "received and sent by members of the Delaware General Assembly or their staff" in order to protect the privacy of constituents who e-mails legislators with "their deepest, darkest secrets."

Even as the House mulls a bill intended to make more of the General Assembly's work public, an amendment is being shopped around that would have the opposite effect.

The draft amendment to House Bill 1, which itself would subject the General Assembly to the Freedom of Information Act, would close off access to some information that now is considered public.

The Legislature currently is exempt from the state's open-meeting law, and legislators' e-mails have long been assumed to be covered by that exemption. However, a legal opinion circulating in Legislative Hall concludes that legislators' e-mails to state agencies covered by FOIA are open to public scrutiny.

More here.

Bill to strengthen Del. FOIA put on hold

A bill to include the Delaware General Assembly and all meetings (except party caucuses) in the FOIA won't be "worked" until March 19, according to its sponsor, House Speaker Bob Gilligan. He hopes to prevent any surprising amendments.

Proponents for open government will have to wait a little longer before members of the House vote on legislation that would open up the General Assembly.

The bill would remove the General Assembly's exemption from the Freedom of Information Act, and open all meetings except party caucuses.

House Speaker Bob Gilligan sponsored the legislation, and says he doesn't want any amendments to the bill to catch anyone off-guard.

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

Delaware legislators may soon be subject to FOIA

Promising news from Delaware:

A bill that would make the workings of the Delaware General Assembly more transparent to the public has cleared a House committee.

The bill, which subjects the legislature to the Freedom of Information Act, was released by the House administration committee on Wednesday. But lawmakers say amendments are likely, including one to prohibit public access to legislators' e-mails.

House Speaker Robert Gilligan said he hopes the bill will go to the House floor next week.

But it may have to clear the appropriations committee first because the legislature's controller general says at least one full-time staffer, at a cost of more than $61,000 a year, would be needed to handle FOIA requests.

More here.

Delaware Seeks to Bring Legislature Within FOI Law

Delaware House members have wasted little time in filing legislation aimed at making the General Assembly more open. This comes as public pressure has intensified on legislators who have exempted themselves from FOI laws.

House Bill 1, sponsored by House Speaker-elect Rep. Robert F. Gilligan, D-Sherwood Park, would place the General Assembly under the state’s Freedom of Information Act as a public body, subjecting the legislature to the state’s open meeting laws.

Under HB 1, the public would be granted access to General Assembly meetings, except for party caucuses. The public also would have access to the General Assembly’s records. Current exceptions in the state FOIA law for public bodies and records would apply to the legislature.

Salary studies are public, judge says

Salary studies used by the Radnor school board when it granted raises for administrators are public records, a Delaware County Court judge has ruled.

The decision by Robert C. Wright is the latest round in a dispute that began last year when former Radnor school board member Judy Sherry asked for the data.

In a sharp rebuke to the board, which contended that the documents were not public records, Wright, in a June 30 decision, also ordered the board to pay $26,070 for Sherry's attorneys' fees and $2,901 in other costs.

The board must pay, the judge said, because in withholding one salary study that was clearly covered by Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act, it "willfully or with wanton disregard deprived [Sherry] of access to a public record" and "asserted exemptions, exclusions or defenses that were not based on a reasonable interpretation of the law."

The Radnor School District, which has spent $13,258 for its own attorney's fees and costs with more yet to come, has asked Wright to reconsider both his verdict and awarding of the fees, saying he made several factual and legal errors.

The documents' release is on hold until the judge decides. The district can appeal his ruling.

Sherry, who has clashed with the Radnor board on many issues and has long pushed for open records, said the decision will encourage the public to get involved in district affairs.

"We want to be able to hold people accountable" for their actions, she said.

In May 2007, Sherry asked the Radnor board for a Pennsylvania School Boards Association analysis of administrator salaries and an in-house document outlining compensation for administrators in neighboring school districts. She also asked the board for the cost to the district of an unrelated court filing.

The board had recently signed a contract with district administrators and had given four administrators additional salary increases. "I wanted to see exactly what facts they considered when they reached their decision," Sherry said.

More here.

In Delaware, Looking for a Few Backbones...

As dawn broke this morning, the sun set on efforts to shed more light on the workings of state government in Delaware.

As lawmakers adjourned the 2008 session, bills that would have made the legislature subject to the state's Freedom of Information Act and made it easier for citizens to challenge the withholding of records or holding of closed-door meetings died of inaction.

"We didn't get open government bills passed, so we didn't do right by the public," said Sen. Charles Copeland, R-Greenville.

Copeland and other Senate Republicans had pledged before the session began that they would work to make government more transparent. He noted that many open government bills languished and died in the Senate executive committee, chaired by president pro tem Thurman Adams, D-Bridgeville.

"There are powerful members of the committee on his side of the aisle," Copeland said.

But Democrat Karen Peterson of Stanton blamed Republicans for holding up efforts to make the legislature transparent.

With her bill to make the legislature subject to the Freedom of Information Act bottled up in Adams' committee, Peterson launched a petition effort to have it released from committee. Her effort to get the required 11 signatures failed.

"Every year I hope we get 11 people who have backbones, but it doesn't happen," she said.

More here.

OOGA!

From the start of their rally here Tuesday, a small group pushing to open the General Assembly to more public scrutiny made sure they were both seen and heard.

Legislators, staffers, lobbyists, the media and the public -- all packed into Legislative Hall for the opening of the second half of the 144th General Assembly -- couldn't miss the protesters' fluorescent, lime-green T-shirts and matching buttons. They sported the message "Open Our General Assembly -- OOGA! OOGA! OOGA!"

Specifically, Delawareans For Open Government want legislators to pass Senate Bill 4, which would end the General Assembly's exemption from the state's Freedom of Information Act.

The only protester without a green shirt -- any shirt, actually -- was Jason Scott of Middletown.

Before coming inside, Scott took advantage of the unseasonably warm day by letting other protesters sign their names and write sentiments of support on his chest and back. Because the General Assembly isn't a public body, Scott figured he'd become his own "public body." Get it?

"It's an absurd protest, but it's also an absurd notion that the General Assembly doesn't consider itself a public body," Scott said.

More here.