To their credit South Carolina state senators are moving quickly and decisively to fix two significant problems that arose last year and left our state’s Freedom of Information Act significantly weakened. With two rulings last summer the S.C. Supreme Court dealt serious blows to the state laws designed to protect the public’s ability to know what governing bodies and elected officials are doing.
[…]
A bill put forth by a local legislator – which called for public service corporations attempting to use eminent domain be subject to Virginia's Freedom of Information Act on projects where eminent domain is claimed – died in committee Thursday afternoon, according to a press release.
House Bill 1696 was patroned by Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, and centered around Dominion Power and the company's eminent domain authority for its controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
[…]
If a resident wants to know about a city construction project going on in her neighborhood, she can get information about it through an open records request.
If a parent wants to know how much school administrators are being paid in his child's school district, he can ask for that data.
[…]
Read More… from How Rockwall- and Rowlett-area agencies scored on handling open records requests
Someone wants to know more about the City Council members’ electronic activities during public meetings. And he wants to see text messages and tweets.
On Jan. 21, Gordon Johnson emailed Joliet City Clerk Christa Desderio seeking a set of records.
[…]
Read More… from Joliet City Council hit with Freedom of Information Act request
The push to open up records on projects like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline died in the House of Delegates on Thursday.
House Bill 1696 was killed in committee on a near-unanimous voice vote. The bill, introduced by Del. Dickie Bell, would have made public utilities subject to sunshine laws on projects where the company is allowed to exercise eminent domain.
[…]
Read More… from Open records push for projects like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline dies in House
Gov. Tom Wolf is committed to changing the culture in Harrisburg.
Elected leaders should be open, transparent, and accountable to the people of Pennsylvania. Gov. Wolf has not only pledged to make this one of his top priorities, but has actually acted upon it.
[…]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge Wednesday to deny a quick win in a Freedom of Information Act suit seeking access to immigration databases, arguing that the data are exempt from disclosure.
[…]
Read More… from Feds Say Immigration Databases Are Off-Limits In FOIA Suit
Lawyers for the city of Richmond argued in court Thursday that documents about the departure of former top city official Byron C. Marshall are exempt from public disclosure because the city was looking to settle an employment dispute.
[…]
Read More… from In FOIA lawsuit, lawyers say city had dispute with Byron Marshall
Fort Bend District Attorney John Healey said Wednesday that he doesn't believe open government laws were broken when county officials refused to provide details about a wage increase proposal in advance of a vote by commissioners Tuesday and that he has no plans to bring charges in the matter.
"I haven't heard anything yet that leads me to believe the law has been violated," said Healey, the county's top prosecutor for more than two decades.
[…]
Read More… from Fort Bend DA: Delayed information release didn’t break law
Silence is not always golden. In fact there are times when it can be outright dangerous.
Such was the case Monday when the the Washington County officials refused to name the intended beneficiary of a generous taxpayer-backed $1 million economic development incentive package approved by a 19-4 vote of the County Commission.
[…]
Read More… from Opinion: Project X disclosure: Open government does not come with caveats
