National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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New San Diego Data Chief Wants To Get Government Records In Public’s Hands

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The city of Boston lets citizens track its spending online. In Oakland, public records requests are posted on the city's website.

Government tools like these may be coming to San Diego. Local officials are pushing policy to open more of the city's information to the public.

Ben Katz of Open San Diego said identifying and releasing city records in a format San Diegans can use is crucial. Continue>>>
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EFF Demands US Trade Negotiators Publish Their Public Records

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It's no secret that the US Trade Representative (USTR) has approached the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with a disappointing lack of transparency. For years now, leaks have been an inadequate substitute to reasonable public policy, and non-corporate groups have resorted to reading between the lines of press statements even as the stated timeline of the agreement has blown by.

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Congressmen Issa, Cummings call for passage of FOIA Improvement Act

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., have called on the House to pass and send the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Improvement Act to the President for his signature following its unanimous passage in the Senate.

“The FOIA Improvement Act will strengthen FOIA, the cornerstone open government law,” Issa and Cummings said in a joint statement.

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Does the AAUP approve of FOIA-ing professors’ emails?

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Should we cheer or boo when outspoken professors at state universities become the target of public records demands filed by antagonists seeking their emails and correspondence? As we had occasion to note during the Douglas Laycock controversy in May and June, there’s plenty of inconsistency on this question on both left and right. Some who cheer FOIA requests when aimed at scholars supportive of the environmental and labor movements, for example, later deplore them as harassment when the tables are turned, and vice versa.

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Legal Insurrection wins FOIA suit over David Gregory gun law non-prosecution

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For those of you who are new to the blog, or who have not been paying attention, Legal Insurrection filed a FOIA suit against the District of Columbia seeking records related to the non-prosecution of David Gregory and NBC News despite their clear violation of D.C.’s gun law by possessing a 30-round ammunition magazine.

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FOIA bill clears Senate after Rockefeller hold

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Legislation that press freedom groups say would provide important reforms to the federal government’s open records law passed the U.S. Senate Monday, after being briefly blocked by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

“Passage of the FOIA Improvement Act will help open the government to the more than 300 million Americans it serves,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont and a sponsor of the bill.

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Michigan lawmakers, leave a legacy of transparency

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Lawmakers should end this legislative session by leaving Michiganians a legacy of transparency. Bills waiting for approval by the Senate would make it cheaper and easier to obtain documents under the Freedom of Information Act, and should be passed.

The measure passed the House last March by a 102-8 vote. Obviously, it has broad bipartisan support and meets the test of an issue worthy of lawmakers’ attention.

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Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett releases ethics complaints after open records denial

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City officials released public records Monday that had been previously denied to the Tulsa World by Mayor Dewey Bartlett, citing unwritten city policy that officials say exempts them from the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

The records released Monday regarded ethics complaints against Bartlett involving his decision to throw out plans for a sidewalk near A Gathering Place for Tulsa.

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