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The NFOIC open government blog is a compendium of original concepts and analysis as well as ideas, edited excerpts and materials from a variety of sources. When the information comes from another source, we will attribute it and provide a link. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited; we will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

If you're looking for Advocate posts from before July, 2011, visit http://foiadvocate.blogspot.com/.

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Open government and Florida's Project Sunburst
May 15, 2012 7:40 AM

From Sunlight Foundation:

Two weeks, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott held a press conference, announcing the launch of an ambitious project that will allow online access to much of his email correspondence and that of 11 members of his leadership team.  Project Sunburst.

According to a press release from the Governor’s Press Office, the emails will be available with search capabilities.  Project Sunburst requires that all emails sent or received by the Governor and the designated staffers be posted to the Sunburst website within seven days.  The goal, however, is posting within 24 hours of receipt or transmission, and the Governor has plans to expand the program to include other agencies within the executive branch. The launch of Project Sunburst is one of a number of Governor Scott’s transparency initiatives – a second website, FloridahasARightToKnow  launched last year, provides access to state employee salary information and state pensions of $100,000 per year or more.  The state employee information is extremely useful, providing the name of the employee, the name of the employing agency, and the employee’s annual salary and number of years employed.  The pension information is relatively worthless in comparison – the database lists each state agency and the number of employees with pensions of more than $100,000 but provides little information that would help identify the employee.

Opinion expressed by Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, a member of NFOIC.

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Barbara Petersen, email transparency, Florida, florida first amendment foundation, FOIA, Project Sunburst, sunlight foundation, transparency
Fostering civic innovation in California
May 10, 2012 1:50 AM

From GovFresh.com:

Alissa Black joined the New America Foundation in April to lead the newly-formed California Civic Innovation Project, focused on “identifying best practices to improving service delivery, opening new channels for public voices, and bridging the state’s digital divides.”

Black previously served as government relations director at Code for America and has worked for New York City and San Francisco governments, including developing and deploying SF’s Open311 citizen reporting system.

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california civic innovation, california open government, FOI, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency
Why Employees Are The Missing Link for Successful Open Government
May 10, 2012 1:50 AM

From Gartner:

Open government initiatives are either aimed at providing greater transparency, usually as a reaction to an accusation or perception of excessive secrecy, or at engaging citizens in specific problem solution as well as service delivery. It is probably fair to say that the US federal initiatives are closer to the former, while UK initiatives are closer to the latter.

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FOI, open gov, open government, open meetings, open records, transparency
Oakland City Council Votes for Open Data Policy
May 10, 2012 1:49 AM

From Code For America:

On Monday April 30, 2012, Oakland City Council reviewed an open data policy initiative put forth by city councilmember of the 4th District and Oakland native, Libby Schaff.

The open data policy agenda report composed by policy analyst Bruce Stoffmacher, proposes to make raw data sets accessible to the public on a new city data portal.

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california open data, california open government, FOI, open data, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency
State governments begin focusing on website analytics
May 10, 2012 1:49 AM

From GovLoop.com:

State governments are beginning to focus on website analytics, something we here at GovLoop are very familiar with. They are taking advantage of Google Analytics, a free tool which assesses hits and traffic, to determine how people are utilizing their websites. States like California are even publishing these statistics right on their homepages for people to view.

California has created a dashboard which allows users to see how many people are on any given California website at that time. On weekday afternoons, there could be as many as 40,000 users logged in. There are also 2.4 million monthly visitors via mobile devices, which equates to 12% of total traffic.

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california transparency, FOI, open analytics, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency
Iowa governor cites State Integrity Investigation at bill signing
May 10, 2012 1:48 AM

From iWatchNews:

Iowa’s only F grade on the State Integrity Investigation was in the category of public access to information, partly due to a lack of strong enforcement measures.

But Governor Terry Branstad signed a bill last week that would create the Iowa Public Information Board, a nine-member commission that will oversee and enforce the state’s open records laws. The governor noted that the lack of enforcement was highlighted by the State Integrity Investigation and affected Iowa’s overall grade. Iowa ranked 7th among the 50 states and earned an overall grade of C+. 

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FOI, iowa foi, iowa open government, open gov, open meetings, open records, state integrity investigation, transparency
NFOIC's State FOIA Friday for May 11, 2012
May 10, 2012 1:34 AM

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:

Is secrecy justified in George Zimmerman case?

On the very first day George Zimmerman faced a judge on charges of murdering Trayvon Martin, it appeared the special prosecutor and Zimmerman's attorney were working together to keep certain records secret.

Visit ClickOrlando for the rest.

Latest Batch of DHS Occupy Documents Contains New Details About Monitoring of Protest Movement

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)released another batch of documentsThursday morning in response to Truthout's wide-ranging Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request pertaining to the agency's role in monitoring the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest movement.

Visit Truthout for the rest.

A welcome FOIA bill

The S.C. House struck a blow for transparency in government last week, passing a bill to streamline the state’s open records law. We hope the state Senate now will follow suit – and that Gov. Nikki Haley will sign the bill once it is passed.

Visit Herald Online for the rest.

MSU was following FOIA law in redacting portions of state Rep. Bob Genetski's drunken driving arrest video

Michigan State University wasn't protecting state Rep. Bob Genetski when it redacted portions of police video of his Jan. 19 drunken driving arrest, according to spokesman Kent Cassella.

Visit MLive.com for the rest.

Judge temporarily blocks release of PPL data

A federal judge has blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from releasing data about PPL Corp.'s Colstrip power plant in southeastern Montana to two environmental groups until a challenge by the plant's operator can be heard.

Visit CNBC.com for the rest.

Arkansas Open Meetings Law under attack

Currently a lawsuit is going to the Arkansas Supreme Court that will decide past Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly violated the open meetings act.  It is alleged he discussed city business with several city directors in a series of private, one-on-one conversations in 2009.

Visit Sunshine Review for the rest.

Defense Department Releases Indexes to Joint Chiefs of Staff Filing System

Researchers interested in modern U.S. military history will benefit from FOIA releases by the Department of Defense on the record-keeping system of Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-level organization in the U.S. military command system.

Visit Unredacted for the rest.

“That’s personnel” is rarely the right response

How public employees are performing their jobs (or whether they’re showing up at all) would appear to be pretty essential information for journalists (or just inquisitive citizens) to figure out whether government agencies are, or aren’t, working effectively.

Visit SPLC.org for the rest.

GAP Hails Senate Passage of Federal Whistleblower Protection

Washington, D.C. – The Government Accountability Project (GAP) hailed last night's 'Unanimous Consent' approval by the US Senate of S. 743, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA). The legislation provides millions of federal workers with the rights they need to safely report corruption from inside the federal bureaucracy.

Visit Whistleblower.org for the rest.

Secret files missing at National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration has lost track of dozens of boxes of confidential and secret government files at its records center just outside of Washington, the latest in a series of such incidents spanning more than a decade.

Visit WashingtonTimes.com for the rest.

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Arkansas FOIA, arkansas open meetings, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DoD, epa, florida FOIA, FOIA, GAP, government accountability, michigan freedom of information, national archives, South Carolina FOIA, south carolina open records law, whistleblowing
Court Strikes Blow to Illinois Eavesdropping Law
May 9, 2012 4:55 PM

From NYTimes:

In a blow to Illinois' sweeping eavesdropping law, a federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked its enforcement in cases where someone is recording a police officer at work.

It was a victory for activists who had feared that using smartphones or video cameras to record police responding to demonstrations during this month's NATO summit in Chicago could land protesters and bloggers behind bars for years. It's also the most serious legal challenge to the measure — one of the strictest in the nation — and adds momentum to efforts by some state lawmakers to overhaul the legislation, whose constitutionality has been questioned..

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eavesdropping law, FOI, FOIA, illinois foi, illinois open government, police cameras, police records, police video
Missouri to comply with open records request for Edward Jones Dome upgrade
May 9, 2012 4:51 PM

From KSDK.com:

Attorney General Chris Koster says he will give documents regarding proposals made on upgrading the Edward Jones Dome to requesting parties.

Koster says he sent a letter Monday notifying representatives of the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Bureau that the state will comply with the open records request.

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FOI, missouri edward jones dome, missouri foia, missouri open records, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency
FOIA'ed Emails Point To 'Cozy' O'Malley-Perdue Lawyer Ties
May 9, 2012 4:50 PM

From WBAL.com:

An environmental group says emails they obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show a close relationship between Maryland Gov. O'Malley and an attorney for Perdue Farms Inc.

The group, Washington-based Food & Water Watch, obtained 70 pages of emails between O'Malley and Herbert Frerichs Jr., general counsel for Perdue Business Services.

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FOI, food & water watch, open gov, open meetings, open records, perdue farms, transparency
Private flights cost foundation $80K
May 9, 2012 4:50 PM

From TheIndependent.com:

The University of Nebraska Foundation spent more than $80,000 last year on 21 flights aboard its private aircraft, opting to use the twin-turboprop Beechcraft King Air instead of taking often less expensive commercial flights, according to flight records obtained by The Associated Press.

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FOI, nebraska open records, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency, university of nebraska foundation
Council updated on open meeting changes
May 9, 2012 4:49 PM

From Laramie Boomerang:

Changes by the state Legislature on public meetings and decision-making outside of public meetings won’t dramatically change how the Laramie City Council operates, City Attorney Dave Clark told the council Tuesday night.

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FOI, open gov, open meetings, open records, transparency, wyoming open meetings, wyoming open records
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