National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Posts by NFOIC

Utility companies are tearing up thousands of city streets to make repairs without permits

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Thousands of city streets are being torn up by utility firms making repairs without permission, city records show. The number of fines levied against Con Ed, KeySpan Energy and smaller construction companies for illegally chopping up streets has risen 130% over the past five years, from 937 in 2008 to 2,153 in 2013, according to records obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request filed in November.

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Supreme Court of Canada: limits on government disclosure include policy options

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The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has issued a unanimous decision in John Doe v Ontario (Finance) 2014 SCC 36 that outlines the parameters on the ability of the public to access information under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) that is prepared for the purposes of informing the deliberative processes of government bodies.

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Releasing Drone Program Memos Is Fundamental to Government Transparency

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On May 13, the Center for Effective Government joined other open government organizations in urging Attorney General Eric Holder not to appeal the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York Times Co. v. Department of Justice. In April, the Second Circuit ruled that the government must disclose the legal analysis justifying the government's drone-based targeted killing program, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Times.

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Vermont’s open meetings work is not finished

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For decades Vermont has been at the bottom of the list of states for the public’s right to know the truth about government operations, records and meetings.

Two years ago, with the strong support of Gov. Peter Shumlin, Secretary of State Jim Condos and others, the legislature passed a new public records law that improved public access to government documents. Since then, the state has seen steady improvements in its rankings for open government.

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Editorial: Vote YES on Prop 42 if you value open-government. Vote no if you prefer secrecy

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Prop 42, on the ballot for California’s June 4 election, will amend the Constitution to assure that local governments are legally bound to observe open-government requirements. If you prefer transparency to secrecy in your city government, local school board or county government, then the choice is clear: You should vote for Prop 42.

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Civic hacking is taking off

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The open government movement has become super-charged over the last year. Largely in part to the people and organizations on the front lines. At the 2013 Code for America Summit held in San Francisco, California, I got a chance to speak with some of the people who are volunteering their time, finding better ways to make government work for us, and bridging the gap for citizens to access and participate in their government.

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The best and brightest in open government at TransparencyCamp 2014

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It's Open Government Week at Opensource.com, and the Sunlight Foundation is celebrating by bringing amazing people and projects together in open government, open data, and civic hacking. Join like-minded folks at TransparencyCamp in Washington D.C. on May 30 and 31.

TransparencyCamp has brought together hundreds of people to share their knowledge about how to use new technologies and develop policies to make our government really work for the people—and to help people work smarter with our government.

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Op-Ed: Right to know compromised

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For decades Vermont has been at the bottom of the list of states for the public’s right to know the truth about government operations, records and meetings.

Two years ago, with the strong support of Gov. Peter Shumlin, Secretary of State Jim Condos and others, the Legislature passed a new public records law that improved public access to government documents. Since then, the state has seen steady improvements in its rankings for open government.

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Editorial: Expand public access

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Short of rewriting the Virginia Constitution, there is no better way to recast the relationship between citizens and state government than overhauling the Freedom of Information Act. The law enables oversight of officials who operate on the people's behalf, spends public money and should be subject to scrutiny.

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