Assessing the Cash for Clunkers Program

Through a FOIA request, the Associated Press obtained information about the Cash for Clunkers program, covering 677,081 trade-ins through October 16.  

They discovered that the most common deal was buyers trading in their old Ford 150 pickups for new Ford 150 pickups.  The new trucks boast a fuel economy of less than 20 mpg, and just 1 to 3 mpg better than the old trucks.

Overall, the AP reports taxpayers subsidized deals totaling $562,500 for new cars and trucks that got worse mileage than the trade-ins. 

Click here for more details. 

South Carolina Local Governments Post Check Registers Online

Fifteen local governments in South Carolina have posted their spending details online as part of a spending transparency initiative.  

Those governments include: the counties of Aiken, Anderson, Charleston, and Dorchester; and the municipalities of Aiken, Cayce, Charleston, Chesnee,  City of Georgetown, Irmo,  Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and Turbeville.  The Holly Springs Fire-Rescue District and the Berkeley County School District have also posted their expenditures online.

Click here for more info.

Landmark Payout in Washington State for Public Records Law Violations

The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) will pay $525,000 to three girls abused by their foster father for wrongfully withholding public records from them.  

The payout stems from a lawsuit filed by three girls who endured years of abuse at the hands of their foster father, despite complaints filed with the state's Child Protective Services.  When the girls' attorney noticed documents missing in their records request, they sued for violations of the open records laws.   A King County Superior Court judge agreed that DSHS had violate the Public Records Act by improperly withholding records from the girls.  

DSHS maintains that it did not intentionally withhold any records, but that records were missing due to technical errors in response to a voluminous records request.

The payout is the largest sum DSHS has paid in a public records case.

Get more information here. 

American Small Business League to Recoup Legal Fees from the DOJ

Now that the Small Business Administration (SBA) has dropped its appeal of a California federal court's legal fees award, the American Small Business League will collect its attorneys' fee award from the Department of Justice.  

The case stemmed from the SBA's denial of the League's request for names of firms receiving small business contracts and the amounts awarded in 2005 and 2006.  The SBA claimed it didn't have records of the names and that the information was stored at the General Services Administration.  The Court found the SBA's argument "curious" and awarded the SBA to hand over the records and pay the League's attorneys fees in May 2008.  

Click here for details on what the League says the records reveal about the Bush administration. 

Florida Professor Sues EPA over FOIA Request for Asbestos Information

Miami-Dade College professor Mario Sanchez is suing the Environmental Protection Agency because it failed to release information about crushed asbestos pipe that was found on city property in 2005.  The property is slated to become the Veteran's Community Park.

Sanchez had filed a FOIA request seeking all EPA documents concerning the Marco Island property from January 2005 to July 31, 2008.  He claims his request was denied because people being investigated by the EPA might be embarrassed if the information becomes public.

The city spokeswoman says there is nothing to substantiate Sanchez's allegations.  

Get the full story here.

Editorial: Higher-Education Foundations Should be Transparent

The Modesto Bee's publisher and president says the funding practices of higher-education foundations should be more transparent.  The non-profit foundations are typically controlled by campus presidents and board members and are funded by donors, and they are not subject to the California Public Records Act.  

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could have increased transparency of these higher-education foundations by enacting Senate Bill 218, but he vetoed it instead.  

Click here for more about how a loan from the Sonoma State University Academic Foundation to one of its board members will cost the school at least $250,000  and could mean reduced student scholarships and campus events for the 2010-11 school year.

Missouri Attorney Sues City Over Open Records Request

Columbia attorney Stephen Wyse has sued the city of Columbia and the Columbia Police Department's custodian of records over an open records request. 

Wyse had requested surveillance video from the Columbia Police Department showing the police lobby and holding area to determine whether the police had inappropriately denied him access to an arrested woman who asked for a lawyer.  

In response to his Sunshine Law request for the video, the police department's custodian of records estimated the cost to be $2,739.73 and said it would take three weeks to organize more than 80 hours of digital footage. 

Wyse responded, saying the city violated the Sunshine Law by inappropriately calculating the cost and for not responding to the request timely.  He received a new estimate for $114.31, covering the cost of burning the footage to DVDs.  After paying the $114.31, Wyse again was told that his request would be honored in three weeks and after he paid the original cost estimate of $2,739.73.  

More here. 

State Task Force Recommends Office of Open Records for Washington

A task force created by Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and Democratic state Auditor Brian Sonntag unanimously recommended the Washington Legislature create a new Office of Open Records to handle public records disputes out of court. The state office would be modeled after the offices created in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  

Although the task force unanimously recommended the new state office, they disagreed on issues of management and leadership for a new office and any appellate procedures after the state office's decision. The cost of a new office also remains unknown, and could create a large hurdle for the state legislature. Washington faces a budget shortfall of up to $1.7 billion in January.  

Get more information 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. 

Arizona is FIrst State to Make Metadata Available for Public Review

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that "if a public entity maintains a public record in an electronic format, then the electronic version, including any embedded metadata, is subject to disclosure under our public records law."  The Court did not decide when a public entity must keep information electronically, but if it does, then the entity should provide the native files.  

With its ruling, the Arizona Supreme Court is the first state to rule that metadata is available for public review.  

Metadata is hidden data about data that details a document's creation and revisions, showing when and who made such changes.  

Get more information here and here. 

White House Visitor Logs Released

Released in a Friday afternoon data drop are the White House Visitor Logs from January 20 - July 31, 2009.  Check it out for yourself here and the Huffington Post link here. 

Records in the Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping Case to become Public

A federal judge ruled to make public sealed court docket entries and most hearings related to the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case.  However, competency reports about Brian David Mitchell and records that involve a privacy right of anyone else involved will remain closed. Mitchell is charged with Smart's kidnapping and has been found incompetent to stand trial in state court twice.  A 10-day federal court competency proceeding is scheduled to begin November 30.  

An attorneys for media organizations say the ruling is "good news for access."  Get more information here.

Got a Parking Ticket in Chicago? So Did Everyone Else.

Chicago privatized its parking meter enforcement in February, and records obtained by a FOIA request by The Chicago Tribune show a 26% increase in parking meter violations as compared to last year.  

In the first eight months of 2009, 327,650 tickets were issued for expired meters or overstaying a park-and-display spot.  That's up from fewer than 260,000 tickets in the same time period in 2008.

The tickets have brought the city $7 million more in revenue.  

More here. 

Rating the Responsiveness of Florida School Districts

Non-profit Sunshine Review recently conducted its Back-to-School guide for parents regarding the responsiveness of the state's school systems.  Although they found some exceptional cases like Orange County Public Schools, it also found instances where the records were difficult to obtain either because of cryptic responses, expensive costs, and bureaucratic attitudes. 

Check out the details here. 

  

AP Seeks Video of Stinger Grenade Explosion in Prison Cell

The Associated Press filed suit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for its refusal to release a 2005 video showing a stinger grenade exploding inside a prisoner's cell after a guard dropped it.

The Department refused the open records request on grounds that the tape would jeopardize the security and safety of inmates and staff at the prison.  

Get more information here. 

Loud Music as an Interrogation Technique

On behalf of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, the National Security Archive in Washington is filing a FOI request seeking classified records that detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device. 

The Associated Press reports that documents and interviews with former detainees reveal that music from AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, and Marilyn Manson was used to block communication between detainees.  Critics say the music was also used to humiliate, terrify, punish, disorient and deprive detainees of sleep, violating international law.  

Get more information here. 

SEC to Consider Public Information Requests

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will consider three proposals to shed more light on non-public trading entities, including dark pools.  Dark pools match big stock order privately.  

The proposals would require dark pools to make information about an investor's interest in buying or selling a stock available to the public and to publicly identify if their pool executes a trade.  

Check out the article from the Wall Street Journal. 

The Washington Post Asks: Do we have a right to know the central bank's inner workings?

In this article, The Washington Post poses a question examining the scope of public inquiry into the inner workings of the Federal Reserve Board, especially with respect to two pending issues.  First is the legislation sponsored by Ron Paul (R-Tex.), a bill that would require annual audits of the Fed's monetary policy-making and short-term lending.  Second is the litigation brought by Bloomberg News for access to the Fed's data on crisis lending under the FOIA.  

What do you think?  

Oklahoma Supreme Court Decision Troubles Open Records Advocates

A ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court effectively carves out an exception to the state's Open Records Act by forbidding the release of all the state's electronic case information under the state Open Records Act.  The ruling also affirms public access to electronic court records on a case-by-case basis.  

The Court rejected the bulk data request of INAD Data Services LLC for electronic copies of all district court and workers' compensation court case information.  

Controversy started brewing when it came to light that another company, KellPro Inc. has a $1 million contract with the state Supreme Court to get electronic court records from 64 counties ready for a unified system of public access on the Web. 

State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-Oklahoma City) criticized the Court for contracting with one private company to provide data while simultaneously cutting off access to other companies.  

Get more details here. 

Evaluating the Senate's Passage of the Open FOIA Act

The Senate's passage of the Open FOIA Act presents a mixed bag.   It's disappointing that the Senate exempted photos showing detainee treatment under U.S. force's control, adding yet another exemption to the 240 already written into the law.  On the other hand, the bill requires the invocation of any future FOIA exemptions to cite the specific part of the act that permits them, making it easier to identify and debate those proposed exemptions.  

For more information, click here.