Proposed Public Access Reform Draws Bi-Partisan Support

The Time for Transparency Act, which creates as timeline for government officials to respond to public records requests, has brought together some unlikely allies in support of the bill, including the conservative government watchdog group Maine Heritage Policy Center, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Maine Press Association, and both Republican and Democratic Lawmakers.

The proposal would require government officials to produce public records within 10 days of a request. Under current law, they are given five days to tell the requester whether the document sought is a public record. The bill would also allow people to request copies of public records by phone, and would allow a copies to be mailed if the requester pays for postage. The bill also proposes that every governmental body designate an existing employee to serve as a public information officer to oversee all public records requests.

The Maine Freedom of Information Coalition is not supporting the bill because of concern that the longer deadline would prolong the response time for information that is clearly public records.

Get more information here.

Maine Lawmakers Think Restricted Access Could Prevent Fraud

Maine lawmakers have proposed restricting public access to birth and marriage records as a way to combat fraud and identity theft. The lawmakers are considering restricting access despite any evidence that misuse of birth or marriage records have lead to any cases of identity theft or fraud in the state.

Read more about it here.

New Englanders Favor Open Government

A recent poll commissioned by The New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC) and conducted by the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center shows the vast majority of New Englanders believe having open access to the workings of government is important to citizen and favor strengthening laws to protect access, such as making government agencies pay any legal bills necessary to open public records.  

Among the findings:

• One in four respondents strongly believe that public business in their community is done out of public view.
• The majority in the six-state region believe the news media seeks out public information useful to citizens. But one in four people polled disagreed, 14 percent strongly.
• Most citizens have not asked for a public record in the last 12 months and, of those who did, 87 percent said they got what they asked for. 
• A plurality of respondents said they were familiar with the workings of their state's open records laws.
• On the whole, New Englanders are satisfied with the response of state and local government to citizen requests for access, but they remain skeptical of government motives.

Get the full report here and more from NFOIC here. 

EPA Database Reveals Tainted Water in Schools

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that an Associated Press investigation of water in schools revealed thousands of schools across the nation with unsafe levels of  lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.

"The AP analyzed an EPA database showing federal drinking water violations from 1998 to 2008 in schools with their own water supplies. The findings:

Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards.

Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 - an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.

California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289).

Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe-water laws 20 times.

The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates."

Get the complete report here.

Maine's budget Web site may exclude employees' names

Maine legislators are considering a bill that would block salary information on individual state, county, municipal, school and university employees from MainOpenGov.org, the AP reported.

A bill before Maine lawmakers would block the names of people listed on a Web site that enables the public to search the state budget by category or employee.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Lisa Marrache, a Waterville Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would limit information on the Maine Heritage Policy Center's Web site, MaineOpenGov.org. The Web site won praise by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, which promotes open government.

Marrache's bill says salary information relating to an individual state, county, municipal, school, University of Maine System, Maine Community College System or Maine Maritime Academy employee would be confidential. Marrache told the Kennebec Journal she's gotten complaints from several state employees about the Web site.

More here.