National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

Author: NFOIC

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ED: Lining Up To Keep More Things Secret From The Public

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Well, no surprise here. Now that the General Assembly has needlessly weakened the state's Freedom of Information Act, a variety of interest groups want to carve out exemptions to the law for themselves.

In a word, no. Bad idea. The public ought to be able to copy public records and attend public meetings and know what public officials are doing. Residents of Connecticut have given lawmakers no reason to weaken the FOI. The solons shouldn't have done it last year, and they shouldn't do it again.

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Court Rules U.S. Government Cannot Conceal Food Stamp Data

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Conceal Food Stamp Data

A federal court has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot keep secret the amount retailers receive for participating in the food stamp program (SNAP).

The case began when the Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper, filed a Freedom of Information request about businesses enrolled in the food stamp program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture initially denied the newspaper’s request, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently claimed that the department must comply with the request.

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Groups seek exemptions to Connecticut’s public records law

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Proposals to change the Freedom of Information Act are on the legislative table again this year in addition to the recommendations of the recently-concluded task force on privacy and public disclosure.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, AFT Connecticut and individual lawmakers have proposed bills to the Government Administration and Elections Committee to carve out new exemptions to the state’s public records law.

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Obama administration won’t divulge a Guantánamo prison cost, seeks lawsuit’s dismissal

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The Obama administration is refusing to divulge how much it spent to build the secret prison facility at Guantánamo where the accused 9/11 co-conspirators are held and has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Miami Herald reporter demanding documents that would reveal the number.

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Mayor and City Clerk at odds over responsibility for FOIA requests

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The city of Belleville (IL) will use a new procedure and web system to handle requests for public records following tension between the mayor and city clerk.

Since the municipal election in April, Mayor Mark Eckert and City Clerk Dallas Cook have been at odds over whose job it is to gather and release public information.

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DEP never saw Freedom’s pollution control plans

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West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection officials never reviewed two key pollution-prevention plans for the Freedom Industries tank farm before the Jan. 9 chemical leak that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 residents, according to interviews and documents obtained under the state's public-records law.

Under a DEP-approved water pollution permit for the site, Freedom Industries was required to prepare a storm-water pollution prevention plan and a groundwater protection plan.

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Column: A Reminder on Open Government

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"All meetings of a public body shall be open to the public and shall be held in a place available to the general public."

As part of an ongoing study of Ann Arbor’s sanitary sewer system during wet weather, a public meeting will take place next Thursday, Feb. 6, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Slauson Middle School auditorium. At that meeting, an update will be presented on the study. Also to be discussed at the meeting are results of a recent survey of participants in the city’s footing drain disconnection program.

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Advocate asks prosecutor for policy on municipal emails

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The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing a request by an open-government advocate to create a policy for the use of email communications by public officials that is consistent with the Open Public Meetings Act.

The request, made Jan. 23 by John Paff of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project, was prompted by controversy involving email exchanges among four members of the Eatontown Borough Council about a political appointment.

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