National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Arizona bills seek to limit access to public information

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For one state lawmaker, allowing political candidates to keep their home addresses out of the public record would help ensure their safety. For another, allowing former judges to keep their addresses and phone numbers out of public records would accomplish the same.

Three bills introduced so far during this legislative session would make what currently is public information private, including a measure that would keep the names of lottery winners secret for 90 days to give those people time to prepare for the world knowing.

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Rogers sides talk settlement behind closed doors in Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Greg Hines attended a closed-door settlement conference with a judge Friday morning related to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against them by City Attorney Ben Lipscomb.

Lipscomb, the elected city attorney, filed a federal lawsuit in November against the mayor and aldermen claiming his Constitutional rights were violated when the council transferred most of his duties to a staff attorney who answers to the mayor.

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Judge: Audibility Required For ‘Open Meeting’

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Third Judicial District Chancellor Douglas T. Jenkins made a ruling Thursday regarding Tennessee's Open Meetings Act that could have far-reaching legal significance.

During a hearing in a Greene County Chancery Court lawsuit which seeks to stop the Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County and US Nitrogen's plans to use the Nolichucky River for the company's water supply (see related article, page A-1), Jenkins ruled that deliberations at public meetings covered by the Open Meetings Act must be audible in order to comply with the law.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf fires open records director and recalls Corbett’s nominations

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So much for a honeymoon.

On his second day in office, Gov. Wolf rescinded more than two dozen eleventh-hour appointments by his predecessor – firing the state's new open records officer, canceling judicial nominations, and effectively booting the former lieutenant governor from Temple University's board of trustees.

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Editorial: L.A. County’s open-data initiative must include leaders’ guidance

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The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted an open-data initiative aimed at publishing much of the information that Los Angeles County collects in its regular course of business, and that's a good thing as far as it goes. The county is a little late to the game — the city of Los Angeles already has such a program, as do many other large city and county governments — but the open-data movement is still in a formative stage, and the county, as the biggest government in Southern California, is an important entrant into the field.

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Veteran open-government expert hired by General Land Office

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New Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has appointed a veteran open-government expert to be the newly created position of open-government director for the state's General Land Office.

Hadassah Schloss had previously served as the General Land Office's records coordinator. She also was formerly the cost rules administrator for the Texas Attorney General's office.

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Two Bills In Legislature Seek To Amend Arkansas FOI Law

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Two bills filed in the Arkansas Legislature would amend sections of the the state's Freedom of Information Act (Act 93 of 1967). One by Republican State Rep. Dan Douglas of Bentonville would add an exemption to public records available under the FOIA. The other, filed by State Rep. Nate Bell of Mena would set up a review process for executive sessions held by public agencies or commissions.

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New minutes in place for controversial meeting

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The Board of Estimate and Taxation approved a new set of minutes for a meeting which a state judge said was improperly closed to the public.

The Board of Education, in a separate meeting, cast two votes to approve the minutes, but most of its members either abstained or were not eligible to weigh in on the matter.

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Oakley must reveal police fund donors, Michigan Court of Appeals rules

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The Michigan Court of Appeals published a decision today that orders Oakley to release the names of donors to the village police fund.

The decision, signed digitally by Michael J. Riordan and Patrick M. Meter on Jan. 23, does not make a decision on whether the village should release the names of reservists serving as part of the Oakley Police Department.

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