College athletic departments in Georgia would have 90 days – instead of three – to respond to almost all open-records requests under a bill that has swept through the state’s legislature.
Lawmakers approved the exemption to the current law Tuesday night.
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Read More… from Georgia open records advocates blast change for college sports
The White House Office of Science Technology Policy has unveiled plans to co-host four open data roundtables, with the first to get underway Thursday, as part of a continuing push to advance the use of federal data.
The sessions are expected to bring together a limited number of technical, policy and legal experts from federal agencies, academia and the private sector — and collect input from the public — as part of an effort to accelerate the use of government open data sets, according to an OSTP briefing.
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Read More… from White House tech office to co-host open data roundtables
Earlier this month, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed an executive order pledging to “go above and beyond the requirements of the Public Records Law and promote easier, fairer and broader access to public records.”
That order creates a system for citizens to monitor the performance of state agencies. He debuted his Open Book website in 2014, which has gotten favorable reviews for user friendliness and how it catalogs state spending, though it does not offer specifics on what services or goods were purchased.
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Read More… from 10 ways Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin GOP have moved to diminish accountability
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Monday that his "strong bias for the public's right to know" will weigh heavily as he decides whether to veto a measure that would shelter police departments at Notre Dame and 10 other Indiana private colleges from following the same crime reporting requirements as all other law enforcement agencies.
The bill by Democratic Rep. Pat Bauer, whose district includes Notre Dame, was approved recently by the Legislature amid a high-profile court fight between the Catholic university and ESPN over police records.
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Read More… from Indiana governor concerned about Notre Dame police bill
As police departments around the country increasingly use body cameras, many questions arise about access to these video records under freedom of information laws and how journalists can use the videos ethically.
On April 8, the New England First Amendment Coalition will conduct a panel discussion on issues related to the use of body cameras at the Making CONNections journalism conference at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn.
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Read More… from NEFAC to address FOI fallout from police cameras
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday told the judge in the Planned Parenthood shooting case to reconsider his sealing of court records in light of recent developments.
The high court, however, did not rule on whether news organizations have a First Amendment or Colorado constitutional right to inspect the affidavits of probable cause that El Paso County District Court Judge Gilbert Martinez has kept under seal since last fall.
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Read More… from Judge ordered to reconsider sealing of Planned Parenthood shooting documents
The New York State Assembly has passed a reform package to make its daily operations more open and fair, and to provide more transparency, giving the public more ways to see how the lawmaking body operates.
The package comes almost one year after the Democratic majority established a workgroup to recommend how to improve the legislative process, its operations and public participation. That workgroup issued a report with 42 recommendations late last week and the Assembly voted on Monday to adopt those recommendations that required rules changes.
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Read More… from Changes in New York Assembly aim for more transparency
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris wants to require police agencies to file detailed reports about officer-involved shootings to her office electronically, so they can be quickly and easily posted on a state website for public viewing.
Despite the heated national debate over police use of force, no reliable database tracks all police shootings in California, making it difficult for researchers to definitively answer some fundamental questions, including whether minorities are shot at disproportionately higher rates and which departments pull the trigger most often.
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Read More… from California Attorney General backs bill to improve disclosures on police shootings
The ability to access public records is an essential tool in a democracy. Public records give the public a peek at truths that are sometimes never told during public meetings.
But, according to the Legislative Counsel Bureau of Nevada, Nevada’s legislators are exempt from certain public records requests.
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Read More… from Nevada legislators exempt from public records law
In 1910, Congress passed the Enabling Act that would allow New Mexico to become a state. The act set forth the terms and conditions that would finally, after nearly 60 years of trying, allow New Mexico to join the Union.
Chief among those requirements was that a constitution be in place. So in October of that year, 100 men gathered in Santa Fe to write one. It was overwhelmingly a conservative group, 71 Republicans from the conservative wing of the party, 28 Democrats and 1 Socialist.
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Read More… from Op-ed: Here’s how New Mexico can create a more open, ethical legislature
