National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Nominations invited for 2016 class of the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame

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Nominations are invited for inductees to the 2016 class of the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame, which honors those who have made significant contributions to developing, protecting and expanding access to government information.

Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 23, 2016, and should be made by e-mail. Nominations should include a statement of qualifications and links to supporting information, data or reports; and must include the name, e-mail and telephone contact information the nomination.

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Nevada Governor’s text messages should be made public, experts say

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Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has weak legal and public policy grounds to defend his decision to withhold text messages between himself and the leadership of NV Energy, according to open government experts, if the examples in other states and cities were to be followed in Nevada.

Courts and attorneys general in at least 18 states have addressed the issue, of which “decisions have overwhelmingly favored public access,” according to a paper written by Joey Senat, a professor who teaches media law at Oklahoma State University.

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New Jersey county ordered to release details of generators used during Sandy

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It may never publicly be revealed who from the Warren County jail took publicly-owned generators for personal use during Superstorm Sandy blackouts, but a court has ruled that the investigation into their actions is fair game.

Redacted records detailing the probe — but omitting the names of the accused or witnesses — should be released by the county, according to a New Jersey Appellate Division opinion released Wednesday.

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Colorado appeals court hears arguments in dispute over disclosure of teacher sick-leave records

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An attorney for the Jefferson County Education Association argued this week that a Colorado district court judge erred in ruling that teacher sick-leave records can be disclosed to the public.

The lower-court judge made the personnel exemption in the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) “an empty shell” when she narrowly defined confidential records to include only a public employee’s “personal” information, JCEA lawyer Sharyn Dreyer told a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals.

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Wisconsin board’s records action appears to have violated open meetings law

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An obscure board overseeing state public records gave so little notice of a move to sharply limit electronic records that it appears to have violated the state's open meetings law, attorneys and open records advocates say.

The changes have already had an impact — they were used by Gov. Scott Walker's administration as a reason not to release records just one day after the action was quietly taken in August by the Public Records Board, which oversees the preservation and handling of government records.

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Editorial: Rhode Island needs more transparency

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Through the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), the press requested information from Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration regarding the hiring of former state Rep. Donald Lally and Raimondo’s truck tolls proposal. The Raimondo administration’s responses to these and other APRA requests caused advocates for open government to criticize the administration for a “pattern of disturbingly inadequate APRA responses.”

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Colorado school board to get sunshine law training — in secret

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Jeffco’s five new school board members will take about two hours at their next meeting to hear legal advice on “the Colorado Open Meetings Law, the Colorado Open Records Act, conflicts of interest and standards of conduct for local public officials.”

The sunshine-law training will be held behind closed doors in an executive session.

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Editorial: South Carolina bill would streamline FOIA process

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Most of us saw recent news accounts of a Chicago police officer involved shooting that occurred one year ago. The dashcam video of that tragic incident shows a young man being shot in the back. Evidence was released last week that the young man was shot 14 more times as he lay on the ground, purportedly by the same officer’s gun.

That it took one year for that particular investigation to play out and for an arrest to be made is impossible to comprehend.

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