National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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NYT Opinion: No, Your FOIA Request Cannot Wait ‘Until This Emergency Is Over’

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In the more than half-century since President Lyndon Johnson signed the nation’s first Freedom of Information Act into law, the measure has proved to be a valuable tool for taxpayers and the press to keep a check on dealings by public officials that would otherwise be shrouded in secrecy. FOIA requests have yielded insights into […]

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Low Marks for Puerto Rico on Transparency and Access to Information

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An analysis by the Canadian-based Centre for Law and Democracy gives Puerto Rico low marks for transparency in terms of access to information and “open data” laws. “Puerto Rico needs stronger rules guaranteeing the right to information if it truly aspires to adequately implement this constitutionally guaranteed right. Its current laws are much weaker than […]

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Withheld details on coronavirus in Arizona care facilities critical to public safety, lawyer says

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Letting the Arizona Department of Health Services withhold information about COVID-19 cases elevates the financial interests of long-term-care facilities above the public’s right to know — and protect itself — the attorney for state news outlets told a judge Wednesday. David Bodney asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury to rule that the state […]

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Observer Dispatch OUR VIEW: Public officials must be held accountable

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They just don’t seem to get it. Or maybe they do and just don’t care. We’re talking about executive sessions. But until somebody decides to challenge them legally, boards will continue to deceive the people they serve. This time, the flagrant offender is the Ilion Village Board. Prior to its legally announced March 11 regular […]

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Iowa is denying the public access to some records of its COVID-19 response

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Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration has denied some requests for information about Iowa’s preparedness and response to the novel coronavirus by citing a broad exemption in the state’s public records law. Two Iowa agencies have denied Des Moines Register requests this month seeking documentation of the state’s pandemic response plan and daily reports regarding the state’s response to the virus and COVID-19, […]

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Local Governments Are Hard to Find as Coronavirus Ends Public Meetings

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Communities across the country are finding themselves in a bind as they try to pass urgent legislation to combat the coronavirus pandemic at the same time public meetings are impossible. Open-government advocates say many city councils, school boards and other governing bodies are failing at the task, holding meetings that are inaccessible to the public, rushing actions […]

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Retrospect – Celebrating Sunshine Week During the COVID-19 Crisis

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As a nation, we have celebrated the week of James Madison’s birthday (March 16) as Sunshine Week for 15 years. Throughout the week, news outlets and open government advocacy groups issue articles and reports on the public’s right to know what its government is doing. Meetings scheduled during Sunshine Week allow journalists, educators, librarians, civic […]

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Coronavirus clampdown: The virus casts a shroud over American civic life

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States and cities across the country are cutting off access to open records and canceling in-person meetings, starving the public — not to mention lobbyists and other influence-brokers — of information as the coronavirus outbreak reaches into all corners of civic life. The public access shutdown comes just as local officials make unprecedented decisions about […]

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Government Secrecy is Growing During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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Students at the University of Florida who want to know how they are being protected from the COVID-19 pandemic can’t find out. The university is hiding its emergency response plan under a legal loophole intended to keep terrorists and enemy combatants—not viruses—from exploiting government weaknesses. Since the spread of coronavirus accelerated in recent weeks, local, state and […]

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