National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Rejected resolution indicates Columbus school board violated Ohio Open Meetings Act

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In an extraordinary series of admissions, three members of the Columbus Board of Education voted Tuesday for a resolution admitting they made official decisions about their superintendent search in private meetings, in apparent violation of state law. But the proposal, which called for the district’s entire superintendent’s search to be scrapped and started anew, fell […]

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Idaho Gov. Otter signs open meeting law expansion bill into law

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BOISE, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has signed into law a bill that would expand Idaho’s open meeting laws.    Otter signed the measure on Monday along with nearly 40 other bills.    Beginning July 1, boards and commissions created by executive order will now be subjected to the Idaho Open Meeting Law. […]

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Justice Department refuses to release report on its examination of Spokane Police Department

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The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release its report on the Spokane Police Department’s reforms after a public records request and appeal by The Spokesman-Review. The report details how well Spokane police implemented 42 recommendations from the Justice Department’s collaborative reform process, a voluntary review the department undertook starting in 2012. The reform […]

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Hawaii legislators Again Consider Making More Police Disciplinary Records Public

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For the fifth straight year, there’s a bill to end the exemption for officers to a public records law that applies to everyone else. The disciplinary records of all public servants in Hawaii  — except police officers — are available to the public. Police disciplinary records can only be made public when an officer is […]

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Michigan Bill will require FOIA requests be fulfilled promptly

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A proposed bill would establish a deadline for the state to fulfill Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Requests would need to be fulfilled within 60 days. In December, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Michigan’s FOIA law does not specify a particular timeline for when a state department must fulfill a request. “In a […]

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Michigan Gov. Snyder Approves Cybersecurity FOIA Exemptions

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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Open-records disclosures can no longer include information on cybersecurity plans and vulnerabilities in Michigan. Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation Monday that allows for the exclusion of cybersecurity information shared with Michigan State Police and other government bodies. The changes cleared the Legislature in a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Brandt Iden […]

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Long Island Open Records Report Card Sparks Policy Changes

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A year ago this week, the Long Island Press and the Press Club of Long Island co-published an unprecedented report card grading nearly 200 localities responsiveness to identical public records requests. The cumulative grade was a C. Since then, some municipalities and agencies that scored poorly made improvements in how they handle Freedom of Information […]

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New email system will archive Montana lawmaker emails for 5 years

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The Montana Legislature is replacing its current email system with one that is expected to make it easier to comply with open records requests. The new email has an automatic archive system that will retain legislators’ emails for five years after their terms end to comply with state law, the Missoulian reports . Lee Newspapers […]

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Texas open-government advocates look to 2019 to improve transparency

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Open government advocates are spending the year ahead of the 2019 legislative session rallying allies to restore access to public information lost after a 2015 Texas Supreme Court ruling. That year, the court ruled in Boeing v. Paxton that information that could help a business’ competitor cannot be made public, even if that company enters […]

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Illinois lawmakers nearly immune to transparency laws they wrote

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All of the recent sexual harassment controversies surrounding Springfield lawmakers and House Speaker Michael Madigan have come to light without the aid of a significant transparency tool: the Freedom of Information Act. Illinois’ FOIA laws had been criticized as having too many exemptions and no real recourse for a government denial of a request. They […]

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