Bill to Make Public Employees' Birth Dates Private Passes Oklahoma Senate

The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill that would keep the birth dates of public employees confidential. Proponents say the measure would protect an employee's privacy, but open records advocates point out that birth dates are often the only way to identify an individual correctly from a database. For example, The Oklahoman compared state sex offender registry with the state's January payroll data and found that 778 state employees share first and last names with registered sex offenders. The overlap includes child care workers, law enforcement investigators, and a state Supreme Court justice.

Read more here.

North Carolina County Seeks to Remove Public Officials from Online Property Database

Mecklenburg County wants the public to use an online survey to weigh in on a debate over access to public officials' tax information online.

Arguing that it is too easy for violent criminals to find out where public officials live, some North Carolina county and federal officials sent a letter to county commissioners asking them to allow law enforcement employees to remove their names from the county's online database.

But officials say the property search tool would have to be removed in its entirety, instead of selectively removing a few names. Property would have to be searched online using only addresses or parcel numbers, but not owner names if the search tool were removed.

Read more here.

Virginia Bill Would Block Public Access to Concealed Handgun Records

A Virginia state representative is sponsoring legislation that would prohibit a clerk of court from providing public access to concealed handgun permit applications and information without the written consent of the applicant or permittee.

Currently, individuals records are open for inspection at the courthouse of the locality that issued the permit, but the state does not maintain an electronic database.

Read more about the proposal here.

Fla. city installs city open-records kiosk

The City of Alachua in Florida installed a kiosk at City Hall that allows residents to search for public records without having to file a request, Alachua Today reported. The computer's search engine contains thousands of public records, including e-mails, ordinances, etc. However, the system is limited in that some records haven't been uploaded or haven't been converted into a format that is readable by the search engine. Michael Canney, a resident, said all the city's records aren't on the kiosk, including the city manager's e-mails. “To get certain public records, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and pay large amounts of money,” he said.

The City of Alachua recently installed a kiosk at City Hall for residents to get public records without having to request them from the city clerk.

Alan Henderson, deputy city clerk, said the search engine at the kiosk will eventually give Alachua residents access to ordinances, resolutions and anything considered a city public record.

The engine contains thousands of documents, but the system is limited as city officials continue to reformat and add more records.

More here.

U.S. Government CIO speaks about plans for Data.gov

Wired published a Q&A with Vivek Kundra, the U.S. government's first-ever chief information officer, in this month's issue. Kundra spoke about his plans for Data.gov and navigating privacy issues. Wired also has its own Wiki where people can report government data that is not accessible and can suggest how accessibility to government data could be improved.

The Obama administration's most radical idea may also be its geekiest: Make nearly every hidden government spreadsheet and buried statistic available online, all in one place. For anyone to see. Are you searching for a Food and Drug Administration report that used to be obtainable only through the Freedom of Information Act? Just a mouseclick away. Need National Institutes of Health studies and school testing scores? Click. Census data, nonclassified Defense Department specs, obscure Securities and Exchange Commission files, prison statistics? Click click. Click. Click.

The man in charge is the US government's first-ever chief information officer, Vivek Kundra. Previously CTO of the District of Columbia, Kundra, 34, knows that the move from airtight opacity to radical transparency won't be a cakewalk. Until now, the US government's default position has been: If you can't keep data secret, at least hide it on one of 24,000 federal Web sites, preferably in an incompatible or obsolete format.

More here.

Still time to submit your vote for most wanted unclassified document

More than 80 suggestions have been received so far by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Open the Government, Nextgov reported. March 9 is the deadline to vote. Look for the results during Sunshine Week, March 15-21.

Also, Recovery.gov is now online and will include a searchable database of stimulus-related spending.

Less than a month after President Obama gave administration officials 120 days to develop a governmentwide transparency directive, watchdogs are compiling a list of the 10 "most wanted" unclassified government documents currently unavailable in an easily accessible format.

ShowUsTheData.org, a project just launched by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Open the Government, has received more than 80 suggestions so far, with financial industry bailout funds and Congressional Research Service reports topping the list. Other popular requests include details on the rationale for and usage of USA PATRIOT Act powers, congressional voting records, and memoranda from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Internet users have until March 9 to vote for the unclassified information or data they most want to see posted or updated. The results will be released during Sunshine Week, March 15-21.

More here.

Big victory could mean public right to any government-created database

A California appeals court ruled that Santa Clara County must make its geographic information system, which indicates real estate boundaries and other property data, available to the public. The county had denied the California First Amendment Coalition's request for a copy of the real estate parcel "basemap." The argument was that U.S. Homeland Security concerns and copyright protection preempted releasing the information in accordance with the California Public Records Act.

In a stunning victory for freedom of information advocates, a California appeals court has sustained a public right of access to a government database that makes possible highly accurate digital mapping.

Holding that Santa Clara County must make public its geographic information system (GIS) parcel “basemap,” which shows real estate parcel boundaries, appraisals, and other property data, a unanimous Court of Appeal rejected arguments that U.S. Homeland Security regulations and Federal Copyright protection trump the public’s right of access under the California Public Records Act.

More here.

More coverage: Homeland Security Act Does Not Shield County Land Data, Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Fla. commission debates fees for records requests

The Florida Commission on Open Government has stirred up controversy in its discussion of proposed changes to the Sunshine Law. The proposals would curb agencies from charging high fees and require electronic records to be provided at cost of duplication. The redaction of confidential information from data would no longer be considered a "specialized service requiring additional charges" either. The opposition is arguing that with increasing costs and smaller staffs, filling requests could become a problem if these changes come to pass.

Two members of the Commission on Open Government — the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Hillsborough County attorney — vigorously oppose the panel's plan for ending stiff charges for providing copies of public records to citizens.

But the head of the First Amendment Foundation, who chairs the nine-member panel that Gov. Charlie Crist created to review exemptions to Florida's "sunshine" statutes, said government agencies had ample opportunity to object to draft proposals set for final consideration next week. She said the Legislature must prevent "exorbitant" charges that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars for providing public information.

FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey and Renee Francis Lee, the county attorney in Tampa, wrote to JoAnn Carrin, director of the commission and head of Crist's office of open government, saying the cost of extensive record searches would be a hardship for already hard-pressed state, city and county governments. Bailey also said the open-government commission, on which he and Lee serve, did not take enough testimony from government agencies on the issue.

More here.

From Miami, A NIce New FOI Tool

For Sunshine Week, the Miami Herald has unveiled a cool new page dedicated to using public records.

Watchdog Data Sleuth -- developed by Assistant Managing Editor Manny Garcia and two of the newsroom's computer and online talents, Rob Barry and Stephanie Rosenblatt -- provides links to valuable public databases.

Also available on MiamiHerald.com today is a special page on public records and access, located here.

Over time, the Herald plans to build the Watchdog pages into a robust collection of links and databases that will serve as a resource in the yearround push for open government.