Mississippi Student Faces Costly Hurdles in Public Records Assignment

A journalism student at the University of Mississippi learned how hard and expensive it can be to obtain public records.

The senior attempted to obtain two city budgets from Oxford, Mississippi, but the fees estimates changed from week to week, ranging from $30 to $96.

Click here to read how city officials admitted to charging more for records to slow down the process when the city is "inundated" with requests. Another city official says it receives "about six" requests per year.

Proposed Law Could Limit Public Information in Mississippi

A Mississippi state representative is proposing a bill to ban businesses and government agencies from sharing personal information about employees, including their work telephone numbers or email addresses, a move that could make Mississippi less responsive to the public.

Read more about House Bill 691 here.

Mississippi Ethics Commission to Clarify State Public Records Law

The eight-member Mississippi Ethics Commission intends to adopt a set of rules to clarify the state public records law, which the Commission's executive director describes as "skeletal." The Commission hopes the rules will provide guidance and consistency for how the laws are applied throughout the state.

Get the article here, and for the proposed public ethics rules, click here.

Miss. ranks last for online access

Complaints against attorneys start at the Mississippi Bar Association, which has not computer database of disciplinary action, The Clarion-Ledger reported. Adam Kilgore, general counsel for the bar, said such a listing may be considered when the site is updated. Such are the problems facing Mississippi's online access to public records.

Can you go onto the Internet and see if any serious disciplinary actions have been taken against your doctor or lawyer? In Mississippi, the answer is yes - sort of.

For physicians, decisions can be found on the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure's Web site by sifting through reports of board's monthly disciplinary actions.

For lawyers, any public disciplinary decisions would be available in scant detail from the online docket of the Mississippi Supreme Court, unless the action arrived at the court on appeal. In those cases, the court's official opinion would be on its Web site.

More here.

Miss. needs clarification on what agencies can charge for records

The Biloxi School Board told Keith Rogers it would cost $84 for copies of exhibits presented at a School Board meeting, the Fort Mills Times reported. That included the cost of research, even though the information was already available online to School Board members with a password. The governor told The Clarion-Ledger it would cost more than $14,000 for gubernatorial e-mails spanning four days. That included "$7,500 to hire private attorneys to review the e-mails for exempted material and $5,400 to bring in an out-of-town computer consultant."

Biloxi resident Keith Rogers thought he would be able to review and copy exhibits the School Board used to decide that an 52-year-old elementary school in his neighborhood will be turned into an alternative school next year.

"I thought I would get them because they are public records," Rogers said. "The secretary at first was very defensive about releasing them at all."

She eventually informed Rogers he could have the records for $3 a page. The school system's standard charge includes the cost of copies, research and time, even though in this case the records already had been assembled and were available on the Internet to board members who had passwords.

More here.

Texas places first in 2009 Survey of State Government Information

See how your state measures up to others in terms of state government information available online:

Most Americans can easily find videos of water skiing squirrels on the Internet but they’ll have less luck finding out whether their children's school buses and classrooms are safe, or if neighborhood gas stations are overcharging.

The Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information online found that while more and more government records are being posted online, some of the most important information is being left offline. And in some cases governments are charging taxpayers to access records that they already paid for, such as death certificates.

More here.

More coverage:

Survey shows some Ky. records available online, Fort Mill Times

In Kentucky, which tied for 26th place, the easiest records to find online are death certificates; however, viewing them is not free. Citizens must order them online and pay processing and delivery fees.

Also easy to find are statewide school test data; disciplinary actions taken against physicians within the past decade; teacher certifications; political campaign contributions and expenses; and personal financial disclosure reports for members of the Kentucky legislature.

Mississippi last in survey of Internet records, Memphis Commercial Appeal.

The state has online data from only four of 20 categories examined by the Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information Online.

But the Mississippi agencies responsible for these records aren’t solely to blame in the lag of posting information online. Other culprits include a shortage of funding for developing and maintaining the Web sites; a shortage of broadband Internet access in this mostly rural state and lack of interest by residents who opt not to go online.

N.C. gets high marks for posting public info online, Times-News Online

The report found that North Carolina, which tied for third place, provides information on 17 out of 20 categories surveyed.

A visitor to the state's government Web site (www.nc.gov) can easily find links to state agencies on health, public education and transportation, but other links listed under "Online Services" and "State Agencies" can be confusing for a first-time user, the survey found.

Proposed Miss. FOI exemption to prevent others from stealing fishing spots

Should the government protect private fishing spots? That's the question many are asking after a Mississippi Senate bill proposed the exemption of privately-built reef locations from the public-records laws., the Sun Herald (Miss.) reported. The bill to shorten the response time for public-records requests died; a bill related to charges for public records is still alive.

Public-records laws have been a hot topic at the Capitol over the last few days.

One measure that would offer exclusions to Mississippi public-records laws is still alive, while another bill that would have lessened the costs citizens pay and shortened the time governments have to comply with such requests died in the Senate Wednesday.

The House and Senate would have to come to an agreement on whether to exempt the locations of privately-built reefs from public-records laws. The measure is part of larger legislation that establishes a program in Mississippi that allows individuals and commercial operations to construct reefs in the Gulf for fishing.

More here.

Miss. bill would curb inflated fees for public records

Promising news in Mississippi! A bill that would allow government agencies to only charge based on the lowest-paid, competent staff person's salary for reproduction costs has made its way to the Senate, the Associated Press reported.

A bill that cleared the Mississippi House on Tuesday says government agencies could only charge their actual costs for providing public records.

An agency would not be allowed to inflate the cost by including amounts paid to attorneys or others who don't work directly for the agency.

An agency would be allowed to charge for the time it takes a staff member to gather or reproduce the records. But the charge would be limited to the salary of the lowest-paid staff person competent to handle the request for documents.

More here.

Miss. Ethics Commission's first ruling favors openness

In first decision since it was created to "mediate disputes over open meetings and public records" rulings, the Mississippi Ethics Commission decided that a blogger was entitled to redacted police polices. The city attorney's office had denied James Hendrix's request for two initial police incident reports on the kidnapping of Elizabeth Hall and homicide of Heather Spencer, both on Sept. 11, 2007. Officials had argued that the documents were exempt from open records laws.

In its first ruling since gaining new authority, the Mississippi Ethics Commission has ruled a private citizen is entitled to redacted Jackson police initial incident reports involving George Bell III in the slaying of his ex-girlfriend.

"We came down on the side of openness," Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Hood said of the first advisory opinion in a records dispute.

In May, Gov. Haley Barbour signed the legislation into law, and it was later cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice giving the Ethics Commission authority to mediate disputes over open meetings and public records and issue rulings or opinions based on the law.

More here.

Read our blog post on the decision to create the ethics commission here.

Mississippi Court Denies Access to Animal Research Records

The Iams Company's records from seven years of pet food research at Mississippi State University are not public documents, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

In 2006, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Mississippi State University.

It alleged the school violated the Mississippi Public Records Act by denying PETA access to records of dental experiments and other tests on animals conducted since 1999 for Iams.

Iams had argued that the experiments were the company's intellectual property.

Iams said it had made a substantial investment at Mississippi State to develop and protect that property.

PETA said it didn't want trade secrets. PETA said it only wanted to know what happened to the animals at Mississippi State.

PETA claimed Mississippi State wanted an advance fee of $40,497 for the documents it requested. When it reduced the number of pages asked for, PETA claims MSU told them that only 19 of the requested pages would be sent and the cost would be $1,000.

More here.

Now THAT is Good News!

The Meridian, Mississippi, Police Department and Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department readily complied this week to a new state law that makes law enforcement incident reports public record.

Both agencies provided full reports — complete with narrative descriptions of the incidents — within an hour of the requests.

"The information that is released through the initial incident report in the case will not affect the investigation of that case," said Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie Wednesday. "I don't see where anything will change for us."

The new law clarifies that incident reports are public records. The reports through a narrative will give basic information when someone is arrested, such as who is involved and where and when an alleged crime took place. The bill was pushed by the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information and other open-government groups. Law officers can withhold names of confidential informants.

More here.

Four Days of E-Mail: $14,000

Gov. Haley Barbour's office wants $14,170 to provide The Clarion-Ledger newspaper's public records request for four days of e-mails from the governor's staff.

The newspaper said in a story in Monday's edition that it was exploring its options.

The governor's office estimate included $7,500 for outside attorneys to review the e-mails for privacy and privilege issues. Other costs include staff time.

Barbour spokesman Pete Smith said Monday that the number of e-mails involved in the request would be about 8,000.

In a March 27 letter to the newspaper, the governor's office said it archives all its e-mails but has no ability to retrieve them without assistance from technology experts.

More here.

MIssissippi Gov Signs Incident Reports Bill

Without commenting this week, Barbour signed legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to provide a narrative description of an alleged crime, including the name of the person charged; time, date and location of the crime; any property or vehicle involved; and investigating officers' names. Other, more detailed information, including names of informants or witnesses and investigative techniques, are exempt from disclosure.

House Judiciary A Chairman Ed Blackmon Jr., D-Canton, tried for several years to pass similar legislation but always faced a law enforcement community reluctant to make the reports public by law.

"I think it's clarifying legislation in letting law enforcement people know what it is they are obligated to release and what they don't have to release," Blackmon said of House Bill 474.

This year, Rep. John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, introduced the bill in a slate of sunshine reform legislation backed by the Mississippi Press Association and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information.

Barbour spokesman Pete Smith called the law "a good compromise," a sentiment echoed by Center for Freedom of Information Director Jeanni Atkins.

"What we ended up with is something that we can live with and something that law enforcement can live with," she said.

More here.

Police reports bill moves in Mississippi

A bill that would make police incident reports available to the public cleared a Senate committee with little discussion this morning.

House Bill 474 now heads to the floor of the chamber for a vote before it can advance to Gov. Haley Barbour.

If enacted, basic law enforcement documents that give general information, such as the names of suspects and the date of their arrest, about a case would be considered an open record. Investigation reports that contain more detailed information would still be exempt.

Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, has said he is in favor of the legislation, provided it does not harm ongoing investigations. Tollison chairs the Senate Judiciary B Committee, which passed the bill this morning.

Open government and media advocates have lobbied lawmakers to pass the legislation for years.

A companion, Senate Bill 2728 passed out of a House committee Tuesday, but it was amended.

In Missippi, Three Requests for Info Meet Sad Fate...

The Clarion-Ledger continues its excellent work on secrecy by asking for some info...

Despite a weeklong public awareness campaign by newspapers across the state last month, attempts to pierce Mississippi's official veil of secrecy continue to be a hit-and-miss endeavor.

hree recent efforts by The Clarion-Ledger to obtain public records from officials in Hinds and Madison counties and Jackson Public Schools met with resistance with the officials claiming unconventional exemptions and trying to put a costly price tag on the information without explaining why.

Jeanni Atkins, executive director of the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information, said Mississippi officials historically have been reluctant to share information with the public and the press. The Legislature is reviewing several measures to strengthen the state's sunshine laws, but changing attitudes will take longer, she said.

"This culture of secrecy is very ingrained. It's been very encouraging that some of the new, young legislators are very open to the idea of giving access to the public," she said.

As part of the series examining Mississippi's open-government practices, The Clarion-Ledger attempted to access a wide variety of documents to test official attitudes toward public-records laws. One of the thornier requests went to new Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith and state Attorney General Jim Hood for their files on Jackson Mayor Frank Melton.

Melton and his two police bodyguards were indicted in 2006 on a variety of charges related to his police-style tactics. Two separate trials ended with Melton pleading guilty to misdemeanor weapons charges and a jury verdict of not guilty on felony charges related to a raid on an alleged drug house.

Smith was an attorney on Melton's defense team in Melton's felony trial last March and was elected district attorney later in the year, defeating District Attorney Faye Peterson.

While Hood ordered his staff to release virtually all of the documents from his investigation, Smith denied the paper's request, citing a clause in state law exempting records pertaining to a criminal investigation. In a letter, Smith wrote that while the Melton case "has been characterized as a closed file," The Clarion-Ledger has written numerous stories regarding a federal grand jury investigation into the mayor's activities.

"Accordingly, we are bound by the statute to deny your request," he wrote.

More here.

FOI bills in Mississippi advance...

A handful of bills that would lift the veil of secrecy from state and local government cleared the first legislative hurdle Tuesday.

Among the survivors is a measure that would require law enforcement agencies to make police incident reports available to the public when an investigation is complete, according to the Associated Press.

House and Senate committees cleared companion bills addressing the police incident reports.

The bills are among several bills designed to improve government openness being supported by the Mississippi Freedom of Information Center and the Mississippi Press Association. Several state news organizations, including the Hattiesburg American, recently published an eight-day series on Mississippi's sunshine laws.

Also clearing a House committee was a bill that gives the state Ethics Commission the authority to enforce the sunshine laws.

A bill introduced by Rep. Toby Barker, R-Hattiesburg, that would give the public access to details about state contracts and subcontracts via the Internet was approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

Barker, a freshman, said the bill cleared the committee without changes.

"There were questions about the cost of the Web site, but we found out that most recently Missouri and Kansas have implemented their Web sites for no cost," he said.

He said the federal government has free software for states to set up Web sites.

Barker said the bill, which would establish the Mississippi Taxpayer Transparency Act, still has a long way to go.

More here.

Great New FOI Series in Mississippi

The business of government is a costly enterprise, and its stockholders, the people of Mississippi, must feed the treasury year after year to keep the state, counties, towns and cities afloat.

Last year, Mississippi taxpayers ponied up billions to complete their part of the social contract that keeps democracy of, for, and by the people - and the people's pocketbook - alive.

But, in what might be considered a not-so-kind twist to the partnership of people and politicians, those who pass the laws have constantly chosen to limit the information that is shared with the very people who elect them and fund their activities.

At every turn, you will discover where state lawmakers have tightened the flow of information about government that the electorate needs to make informed decisions.

Elected officials too often subvert the public's right to important information when they acquire the paternalistic - even arrogant - notion that they know what is best for us. They continually take steps such as closed-door meetings and create exemptions to state laws intended to keep government open.

Who is protected by acts cloaked in secrecy? An inquiring public shut off from its own business or public officials who want to avoid responsibility for their actions?

News organizations across Mississippi have produced an eight-day series of reports about secrecy in government. These articles represent an extraordinary effort by reporters and editors who are concerned that the lack of transparency in Mississippi is harmful to the state's well-being.

Read it all here.

Mississippi Coalition to Push Back...

A great update on Mississippi, where an NFOIC coalition is working with FOI advocates to renew efforts to reform the state's FOI laws:

Newspaper executives and open-government advocates across the state are planning a campaign to roll back what they believe is increased secrecy in Mississippi government.

In a meeting in Jackson recently, some of the state's leading voices for government transparency discussed plans to push the Mississippi Legislature to reform the state's decades-old open-meetings and open-records acts. Among the group's goals are increased access to records involving police investigations, political contributions and quasi-governmental agencies such as university foundations.

Over the years, legislators have peppered the state code with exemptions to the open records law, reducing access to the machinery of state government for everyone from reporters to regular citizens, said Stan Tiner, vice president and executive editor of The Sun-Herald in Biloxi.

"We have killed freedom with exemptions in this state," he said.

Organizers envisioned a public awareness campaign to inform residents in the state on how exemptions in the state law allows government business to be conducted in secret.

Participants in the strategy session said it is important to emphasize that open records is more than a newspaper issue and that it affects how state and local government serves residents...

Representatives from papers around the state participated in the meeting, as well as The Associated Press and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Mississippi.

The push for open government reform is expected to coincide with the beginning of the next term of the Mississippi Legislature in January.

More here.