Author: NFOIC

From WSAV-TV:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's office deletes some emails, which might violate the state's public records law.

While [Jay Bender, an attorney and expert on the Freedom of Information Act] says it's not clear whether the letter of the law is being broken, he thinks deleting emails between the governor's staff goes against the spirit of the law.

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Read More… from Gov. Haley’s office deletes some emails between staffers

From National Lawyers Guild:

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Read More… from National Lawyers Guild files FOIA requests regarding federal role in Occupy crackdowns

From MarylandReporter.com:

The Maryland Register, a state news publication that provides updates on state regulations, legal opinions and hearings, has reversed a decision to charge consumers for its real-time, online news. The policy reversal came after two articles and a legislative inquiry highlighted a new annual fee for consumers to view information the same day it was published.

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Read More… from Maryland Register reverses decision to charge consumers for real-time information

From the Pocono Record:

Lawmakers want state-related institutions to fall under Pennsylvania's Right To Know Law following the Penn State University child sexual abuse scandal.

State Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, said he would introduce legislation making state-related institutions — the four independently controlled universities that receive some state funding — subject to public access rules.

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Read More… from Pa. lawmaker wants Penn State included under open records law

From The Associated Press:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Having already served their sentences, hundreds of Virginia sex offenders are held behind bars for months — some for years — while waiting to see whether they'll be sent to a psychiatric center indefinitely, an Associated Press review has found.

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Read More… from Some Va. sex offenders held long after sentence up

From the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government:

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Read More… from Keeping the teeth in open-meetings law

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Kudos are due to AP National Writer Martha Mendoza and the team of reporters and correspondents who helped piece together what may be the most comprehensive report ever on freedom of information laws around the world.

Across the globe, there are more people living in countries where citizens supposedly have access rights to government information than do not. But what people are entitled to see under freedom of information laws and what they can easily gain access to are two different realities, the AP report showed.

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Read More… from Reality of transparency less than its promise

A few recent items selected from many of interest that we might not have drawn attention to earlier:

DNC sends massive FOIA request for Romney's email records

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Read More… from NFOIC’s FOI Friday for November 18, 2011

From Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:

Washington, D.C. — Sunshine Week 2012, March 11-17, will encourage access to government information, urging both the public and public officials to “Put More Sunshine in Government.”

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Read More… from Sunshine Week 2012 news, “Local Heroes” update

From The Associated Press:

The promise is magnificent: More than 5.3 billion people in more than 100 countries now have the right – on paper – to know the truth about what their government is doing behind closed doors. Such laws have spread rapidly over the past decade, and when they work, they present a powerful way to engage citizens and expose corruption.

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Read More… from AP Impact: Right-to-know laws often ignored