Five-day window may jump to 15 days in Alabama

The sponsor of a bill that provides a government agency with five days to provide requested public records plans to replace it with a bill that increases the window to 15 days, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee passed a bill 9-0 that would give a government entity in the state five days to provide copies of public records requested from the public or the media. The bill now goes on to the full Senate for consideration.

The sponsor, Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, said he reached a compromise with the Alabama Press Association, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama and other entities that would increase that window to 15 days. The committee passed the bill with a five-day window, but Dixon plans to substitute the bill on the Senate floor.

The senator said he arbitrarily chose five days. People have a right to those documents in a reasonable time, he said, but the agency needs time to assemble the request.

More here.

W. Va. Senate to vote on gun bill this week

The debate over whether the public should have access to concealed-weapons permits continues in West Virginia, The Register-Herald (W.Va.) reported. Although the Senate plans to vote on a bill to prohibit public access, a different piece of legislation is being crafted in the House of Delegates to retain the public's right to know.

A renewed battle over the public’s right to access permits to carry concealed weapons is playing out in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature this week.

A vote is planned at mid-week in the Senate on SB378 that is designed basically as a reciprocity pact, one that allows West Virginia and other states to recognize each other’s concealed permits when residents travel to and from one another.

Attached to that proposal, however, is a controversial provision that says the public has no right to pry into government records through a Freedom of Information Act request to see just who is allowed to pack a hidden firearm in public.

More here.

Judge's omission may cost her a fortune

FOI AT WORK!

The Dallas Morning News analyzed public records and discovered that Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, failed to disclose "all beneficial interests in real property" to the Texas Ethics Commission. The commission is investigating her for allegedly refusing to allow a prison row inmate's lawyers to file a plea pass 5 p.m. closing time in order to stop the execution, which occurred within hours. Apparently, the ethics commission doesn't routinely check the completeness of these financial disclosure reports, but The Dallas Morning News did.

The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, while seeking state aid to defend herself against ethics charges, failed to abide by legal requirements that she disclose nearly $2 million in real estate holdings, according to an analysis of public records by The Dallas Morning News.

Sharon Keller has sought dismissal of the charges on grounds that it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay private counsel to fight allegations brought by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that she violated her duties in a death penalty appeal.

Keller, the state's highest criminal court judge, faces possible removal from office if a special master agrees that she blocked a condemned inmate's last-minute effort to stop his execution in 2007 by refusing to extend the court's 5 p.m. closing time to allow his lawyers to file their plea. The inmate, Michael Richard, was executed within hours.

More here.

State officials dispute Utah report on mentally ill

FOI AT WORK!
An AP report compiled with numbers obtained through the FOIA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate that Utah has the highest rate increase in younger (22-64) mentally ill nursing home residents. However the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health denies that there's any way that Utah saw a 78 percent increase in younger mentally ill patients in nursing homes between 2002 and 2008. Only one state in the nation, however, saw a decline: Minnesota.

The number of young and middle-aged mentally ill individuals in nursing homes in Utah grew at the fastest pace in the nation during the past seven years, according to an Associated Press study.

But state mental health officials dispute the study. Robert Snarr, manager of state adult programs with Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, said statistics kept by the state do not match the AP study. There has been no noticeable increase in demand for nursing home care for the mentally ill in Utah, he said.

According to the study, the Beehive State saw a 78 percent increase in the number of seriously mentally ill people between the ages of 22 and 64 living in state nursing homes between 2002 and 2008.

More here.

Bill aims to correct overclassification of records

Almost a third of the 362,000 FOIA requests made last year have yet to be processed due to overclassification, according to a New York Times editorial. A recently introduced bill would require the "national archivist to prescribe how and what to classify, with particular emphasis on cutting back categories and ending the pro forma withholding of nonsensitive information requested by the public."

By last count, the federal government employs 107 different categories of restricted information — one off-limits category zanily pronounces, “sensitive but unclassified.” This muddle of mislabeling seems designed not to protect legitimate secrets but to empower bureaucrats. The end result has been to greatly blunt the Freedom of Information Act’s mandate to let the public in on the business of government, plain and simple.

The House has just approved a measure to end this plague of pseudoclassification. Its backers say it is not just a boon for the public, but an attempt to promote “a common language within government.” There are so many taboos that agencies are even having trouble understanding one another’s rubber-stamp restrictions.

“Official use only” has been slapped wholesale on documents, even though there’s no common standard for what that means. The House measure would correct that by having the national archivist prescribe how and what to classify, with particular emphasis on cutting back categories and ending the pro forma withholding of nonsensitive information requested by the public.

More here.

Holder, Obama memos look promising

The Dallas Morning News column on watchdog journalism focuses on how memos released by President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder promise more government transparency than America has seen in the past eight years.

When it comes to accessing records held by federal agencies, the rules have changed.

After eight years of secrecy under the Bush presidency, the new administration promises greater transparency. The first wave of openness came in memos released by President Barack Obama on his second day in office.

The instructions on how federal agencies should apply the Freedom of Information Act came late last week when Attorney General Eric Holder released his FOIA memorandum. It rescinds the one in 2001 that told agencies the administration would support withholding of information.

More here.

Ark. bill to exempt executions from public record stalls

An Arkansas Senate committee is trying to reach a compromise concerning a bill that would exempt all "policies and procedures for carrying out the sentence of death and any and all matters related" from the Administrative Procedure Act and the FOIA, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Execution procedures, including what drugs are used in executions, would then be left up to the prison director.

An attempt to amend state laws on executions stalled in a Senate committee Wednesday after members questioned the need for secrecy about what chemicals are used.

After a lengthy discussion, Rep. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, delayed consideration of the bill so a compromise might be worked out between prison officials who want virtually the entire process to be exempt from the state's Freedom of Information Act and some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who said they were concerned that too much would be concealed.

With perhaps two weeks left in the legislative session, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's chief deputy, Justin Allen, promised to bring back House Bill 1706 before lawmakers depart the Capitol.

More here.

New Orleans newspaper sues city for public records

The Times-Picayune newspaper has sued New Orleans for not fulfilling three records requests, the AP reported.

New Orleans' daily newspaper has sued the city, seeking various public records, including the credit card statements of city employees and the e-mails of city recovery chief Ed Blakely and Rica Trigs, head of the city library system.

The Times-Picayune filed the suit Tuesday in Civil District Court. The newspaper says the city has not fulfilled three separate records requests filed between May and December.

The newspaper also has intervened in a separate lawsuit that seeks to block the release of New Orleans Police Department records of internal investigations into police officers, including those involved in the New Year's Eve fatal shooting of Adolph Grimes.

More here.

Attorneys for convicted gang leader file records request

Attorneys for Kevin Foster, who received a death sentence for a 1996 killing, have asked the Lee Circuit Judge to review currently exempt records that may be used in an appeal, The News-Press reported.

Attorneys for Kevin Foster, ringleader of the 1990s gang the Lords of Chaos, appeared in court this morning asking for public records for his appeal.

Foster was convicted of one count of first-degree murder in 1998 in the April 1996 killing of Riverdale High School band teacher Mark Schwebes. The jury recommended 9 to 3 that Foster be put to death and that’s where he sits 11 years later — at the Union Correctional Institute on Florida’s Death Row. Foster’s death sentence was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court in 2000.

He and his mother Ruby Foster were also convicted of conspiring to kill Judge Isaac Anderson and witnesses in the case.

More here.

New law prohibits inmates from harassing agencies with requests

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill that seeks to stop inmates from overburdening the Department of Corrections with records requests, the AP reported. The law goes into effect immediately. The bill allows agencies or public employees to refer requests to a superior court judge, who will decide if the requests are legitimate, harassing or intimidating or if they could lead to a security breach.

Jail and prison inmates would be blocked from using public records laws to intimidate or harass state agencies and employees under a measure Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law Friday.

Gregoire quickly signed the bill the same day the Senate unanimously passed it after concurring with some changes made in the House. The House passed the bill on a 94-2 vote Wednesday.

The measure has an emergency clause and goes into effect immediately.

More here.

Also, Legislature approves bill that could limit inmate access to public records, Seattle Times, here.

FOIA exemptions hard to spot

The original Freedom of Information Act included eight exemption categories. The Sunshine in Government Initiative has identified an additional 270, but there could be more. New legislation has been introduced in Congress that would "require any new b(3) exemptions to specifically reference the Freedom of Information Act, so that these exemptions would be easier to spot," the Columbia Journalism Review reported.

The idea behind the Freedom of Information Act is simple: file a request for a document with the government, and they’ll turn it over.

There are, of course, exceptions. The original Act, signed into law on July 4, 1966, listed eight broad exempted categories, including trade secrets, personal medical records, and classified information.

A ninth item ensured it wouldn’t stop there. Section b(3) of the Act says that information can be exempted from disclosure by other statutes. There’s nothing to require that these other exempting statues mention their intent to foil FOIA, and Congress is welcome to write as many of them as they like.

More here.

First Freedom of Information Center director dies

Paul Fisher, a former University of Missouri journalism professor and the initial director of the Freedom of Information Center, died March 17 at the age of 90, the Columbia Missourian reported.

MU journalism professor Paul Fisher's public acclaim as a hero of the freedom of information movement stood in bright contrast to his quiet, private personality.

Friends and colleagues said Fisher, who died Tuesday, March 17, 2009, at Lenoir Health Care Center at age 90, led the crusade for access to public information and helped found the academic study of information access.

"We wouldn't have a Freedom of Information Act in the United States if it weren't for Paul Fisher," said Pat Smith, editor of the Global Journalist. Smith described her friend and mentor as a brilliant, complicated intellectual who loved reading and the craft of journalism.

More here.

Also, Paul Fisher a true champion for freedom of information, by George Kennedy, here.

Proposal for racial data on traffic stops would keep records secret

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed budget would require 11 counties to compile records on traffic stops in order to determine if racial profiling is occurring, the Journal Sentinel reported. However, the records would be exempt from public record laws. This information is already included in police reports and considered public record, but the proposal would require the data to be organized into a record, which would not be public, for the Department of Justice.

Gov. Jim Doyle wants law enforcement in Wisconsin's 11 largest counties to compile data from traffic stops to determine whether racial profiling is occurring.

The proposal, contained in Doyle's budget bill, also would keep those records secret.

That has open government advocates bewildered. Why keep from the public data that could point to a problem or show that there isn't a problem, they wonder.

More here.

School board members fined for violating open-meetings law

School board members in Spirit Lake, Iowa, who violated the state's open-meetings law twice must now pay $400 each in fines, the Des Moines Register reported. The first violation occurred when members met in a hotel lobby in Des Moines. The second offense referred to an incident in which members discussed the district's finances in a private meeting that had been scheduled to discuss the hiring process for a new superintendent. Citizens are now calling for the resignation of the involved members.

A Dickinson County judge on Monday ordered Spirit Lake school board members to pay $400 each for breaking the state's open-meetings law twice.

Taxpayers who mounted a case against the elected officials now want them to resign.

Board members broke the law in November 2007 when they held a meeting in the lobby of a hotel in Des Moines, 200 miles from Spirit Lake, District Judge John Duffy ruled.

More here.

NY Assembly honors Sunshine Week with nine-bill package

The New York Assembly introduced a nine-bill package that would, among other things, permit the recording of public meetings (provided that it is not done in a disruptive way), the North Country Gazette reported. It would also direct agencies to accept public record requests sent via e-mail.

The Assembly says it will honor “Sunshine Week” by passing a series of bills aimed at strengthening the state’s Open Meetings Law, increasing government transparency and ensuring compliance with Freedom of Information laws.

The nine-bill package is intended to promote public awareness of governmental actions and information as the best way to foster better government through increased openness and accountability. Action on the legislation coincides with the annual Sunshine Week, March 15-21, when media around New York State and throughout the country run editorials, columns, cartoons, public forums and news and feature stories that drive public discussion about why open government is important to everyone, not just journalists.

One of the bills would allow any meeting of a public body to be recorded, broadcast and photographed, provided that it is done in a way that is not disruptive to the meeting. Destito noted that technological advances make it possible to record the proceedings of a meeting without detracting from the deliberative process.

More here.

Holder issues new FOIA guidelines

In accordance with President Obama's call for a presumption of openness, Attorney General Eric Holder's memo directs agencies not to withhold records just because they can technically do so. Agencies are encouraged to make discretionary disclosures or partial releases of records that can't be released in full. Another change is that no longer will the department defend a denial of a request simply because the agency had a "sound legal basis" for withholding the documents. It will only defend denials in which disclosure is prohibited by law or would harm an interest protected by a statutory exemption.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued comprehensive new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guidelines today that direct all executive branch departments and agencies to apply a presumption of openness when administering the FOIA. The new guidelines, announced in a memo to heads of executive departments and agencies, build on the principles announced by President Obama on his first full day in office when he issued a presidential memorandum on the FOIA that called on agencies to "usher in a new era of open government." At that time, President Obama also instructed Attorney General Holder to issue new FOIA guidelines that reaffirm the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency. The memo rescinds the guidelines issued by the previous administration.

"By restoring the presumption of disclosure that is at the heart of the Freedom of Information Act, we are making a critical change that will restore the public’s ability to access information in a timely manner," said Attorney General Holder. "The American people have the right to information about their government’s activities, and these new guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under principles of openness and transparency."

The new FOIA guidelines address both application of the presumption of disclosure and the effective administration of the FOIA across the government. As to the presumption of disclosure, the Attorney General directs agencies not to withhold records simply because they can technically do so. In his memo, the Attorney General encourages agencies to make discretionary disclosures of records and to release records in part whenever they cannot be released in full.

More here.

Download PDF of guidelines here.

Ariz. sends mixed message about open government

In honor of Sunshine Week, the Arizona legislative leaders commended their own efforts to increase government transparency, the YumaSun (Ariz.) reported. However, the same day it was announced that reporters who cover the legislature will no longer be provided with space in Arizona Legislature buildings. The dozen or so reporters who use the space pay $77 per month, but the Senate president says the space is now needed for GOP caucuses.

Leaders of the Arizona Senate sent a mixed message about open government Monday at the start of "Sunshine Week," a nationwide event designed to focus attention of the public's right to know about the operations of its government agencies.

Senate President Bob Burns joined with fellow Senate Republicans to proclaim their commitment to open government, citing a number of pending bills that included ones for municipalities to provide searchable online databases listing expenses and a requirement to post open meeting notices online.

Certainly, making information more readily available to citizens, whether it be online or through other methods, is commendable. We will always applaud those efforts.

More here.

Fla. launches state-spending Web sites

The state of Florida launched two new Web sites, which track government-agency spending by contractor name, The News-Press (Fla.) reported. A bill in the Legislature could expand this site to include the spending of local governments and legislative leaders. The next step of this budget tracking tool will include the ability to track every check the state writes.

Gov. Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink Tuesday unveiled what they described as the next generation of Florida's legendary open-government laws, new Web sites that track state spending.

The sites (flgov.com/sunshinespending and myfloridacfo.com/sunshinespending) track government-agency spending by contractor name."

Government in the sunshine is more important than ever, especially during these challenging economic times," Crist said.

More here.

Sun isn't shining brightly in Midwestern states

In honor of Sunshine Week, the Citizen Advocacy Center released a study on open-government laws in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The research shows that open-government laws are "sporadically enforced," training for state employees on these policies is poor, and citizens are not provided with opportunities to participate rather than just attend meetings. Reports are available for each of the five states on the Midwest Democracy Network Web site, linked below.

While every state in the nation has laws that require public access to government records and meetings, in five Midwestern states that were recently analyzed, documents are often kept secret and doors can remain tightly closed.

According to a study released Wednesday by the Citizen Advocacy Center in celebration of Sunshine Week (March 15-21), open government laws in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota have systemic barriers that chill public participation and access to government, which weakens our democratic system designed to be by, for and of the people.

More 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.