Obama approves $1 million for FOIA ombudsman

The Bush administration provided no funding for the new Office of Government Information Services and attempted to relocate it under the Justice Department, which defends the government FOIA decisions, Columbia Journalism Review reported. The good news, however, is that Obama's budget provides $1 million to the new office, which is likely to be up and running by the end of the year in the National Archives, instead.

The budget President Obama just signed includes one million dollars for the new Office of Government Information Services, which will be housed in the National Archives that is charged with serving as a government wide ombudsman for the Freedom of Information Act process.

Gary Stern, the Archives’ general counsel, speaking in January before a Washington College of Law-sponsored conference on freedom of information, made it clear that the agency was expecting an initial appropriation of that amount, and said that most of the funds would go towards the office’s director and a half dozen support staff.

The Bush administration had, despite the explicit intent of congress, signed a quiet budget provision in an attempt to put the office within the branch of the Justice Department charged with defending the government’s FOIA decisions, and provided it with no funding. Outside advocates and members of Congress members who’d worked on creating OGIS not surprisingly viewed this as a rather naked conflict of interest and an attempt to neuter the office.

More here.

PA Ombuds Steps In...

Welcome, Terry, a veteran FOI stalwart...

An East Stroudsburg native and former local reporter will play a key role in implementing Pennsylvania's most sweeping reform to government records access in 50 years.

Terry Mutchler was named by Gov. Ed Rendell as the first executive director of the Office of Open Records. The office was created as part of the new open records law approved this year by the state Legislature. Most law provisions take effect in January 2009.

Mutchler, who held a similar job in Illinois, said she was consulted by a Pennsylvania official about what changes were needed here to improve citizen and media access to state and local government documents.

"I was very surprised that Pennsylvania had the presumption that records were closed," she recalled during a visit Wednesday to Monroe County. "I said, 'You have to change the presumption.' The burden should be on the agency all the way to say why records shouldn't be open."

The new law does place the onus on government agencies to justify why records shouldn't be released, rather than on the requester to justify why the records should be provided. Mutchler calls this the most significant improvement to the state's open records law.

More here.

Hoosier Ombuds to Rule on Phone Records

Indiana's public access counselor is investigating whether environmental officials violated public records laws by failing to release complete records of phone calls made about the time of a public hearing on the BP Whiting oil refinery's air permit.

Public Access Counselor Heather Neal is expected to issue an official opinion on the Post-Tribune's public records complaint by June 26.

The northwest Indiana newspaper filed the complaint last month after the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said it did not have all the itemized cell phone records requested.

The newspaper had asked for records of cell phone calls made Feb. 1 through March 20 by Dan Murray, assistant commissioner of the agency's Office of Air Quality. That included March 14, the date of a public hearing on BP's air permit.

More here.

SGI: Some Thoughts for the Fed Ombuds Office

The Sunshine in Government Initiative is today releasing recommendations for developing the independent Office of Government Information Services with in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Created by Congress last year, the Office serves as an independent mediator and analyst into problems the federal government has fulfilling requests for public records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). SGI is recommending that in tight budget times, a small scale OGIS should begin immediately and be built out as resources and experience permit.

The Sunshine in Government Initiative (SGI) is a coalition of ten media groups promoting openness and accountability in government. Members of the SGI coalition include: American Society of Newspaper Editors, Associated Press, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, National Association of Broadcasters, National Newspaper Association, Newspaper Association of America, Radio-Television News Directors Association, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Society of Professional Journalists.

SGI intends these recommendations to help the National Archives jump start the Office when Congress appropriates resources to pay for the Office.

"If done right, this office will help individual requesters, like free lance journalists, researchers and historians to gain reasonably quick access to accessible documents. Some requests for information are voluminous and can be handled in phases. Some would lend themselves to quick fulfillment with a little expert help and mediation. The goal is to get information out without undue fuss, and avoid having to go to court to push agencies along," added Tonda Rush, director of public policy of the National Newspaper Association, which represents community newspapers and pushed especially hard for the independent ombudsman.

"This office could really break through some logjams," said SGI Coordinator Rick Blum, "but it is important to set it up so it is not immediately overwhelmed with mediation requests from frustrated requesters. That is why we recommend OGIS at first focus on requesters whose purposes are to disseminate information to the public. It will gain experience and also help to fulfill FOIA’s real mandate: to make records public."

The recommendations focus on ways the Archives can effectively provide fair, authoritative mediation services as a way of giving the public an alternative to costly litigation to resolve FOIA disputes. SGI recommends that NARA create criteria for selecting cases to mediate that both reach many requesters and avoid overwhelming the mediation system. Many agencies are plagued with delays in processing requests and backlogs of many years for even simple requests.

See the report here.

Business is Good in Illinois

Requests to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office for assistance with the state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings Act (OMA) increased by 38 percent in 2007, according to a release from Madigan's office..

The statistics, released today as part of Madigan's third Public Access Counselor Annual Report, show that in 2007, the Attorney General's office received 1,366 requests from the public, government officials and members of the media for assistance in matters dealing with the Illinois FOIA and OMA. In 2006, the office received 988 requests.

Members of the public seeking access to government information continue to lead requests for assistance. Of the total number of written and telephone requests relating to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act, 939, or nearly 69 percent came from members of the public.

Madigan's Public Access team also saw a large increase in the number of requests for FOIA and OMA assistance from government officials. In 2007, the Public Access Counselor received 111 requests for FOIA assistance from government officials, up 178 percent from the 40 requests from government officials in 2006. Additionally, in 2007, the Public Access Counselor received 174 requests from government officials for assistance in addressing Open Meetings Act questions, up 262 percent from the 48 requests received in the previous year.