The National Freedom of Information Coalition joined Reinvent Albany in urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would enhance the state’s Freedom of Information Law. “We are asking you to sign this bill into law as part of a new and sincere commitment to fostering greater transparency in our state,” reads […]
The National Freedom of Information Coalition endorsed a Dec. 13, 2021, letter to leaders of the Joint Committee on the Library, requesting that they direct the Library of Congress to publish all non-confidential Congressional Research Service reports online. Demand Progress, American Enterprise Institute, and Free Government Information drafted the letter, which was signed by 42 […]
On a recommendation from its vendor, Virginia has removed government employee names from credit card expenses, a move that contradicts the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, experts say. Bank of America advised state leaders to withhold the names of people with state-issued credit cards. Bank of America said the advice is intended to reduce the […]
The United States is undercounting COVID-19 deaths, especially among Native, Hispanic and Black Americans. A project of MuckRock and Columbia’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation, in collaboration with USA Today, will attempt to examine the true death toll from the pandemic. “There are sizable gaps in the data as local and state medical examiners and […]
Despite public pressure to make police misconduct and complaint records available to the public, many personnel records remain secret. In some jurisdictions, because of state laws or by contract, officers can conceal their personnel files, including records of wrongdoing. “Secrecy of police discipline has been a huge problem,” Sam Walker, an emeritus professor at the […]
The National Freedom of Information Coalition and 20 other organizations signed a Dec. 6, 2021, letter, urging Senate Judiciary Committee leaders to support the Open Courts Act. The letter supports the bill as a way to modernize the judicial branch’s case management system, known as PACER, in ways that would improve public access. Read more […]
Third-party business groups have no valid legal basis to prevent the disclosure of COVID-19 outbreaks, and timely access to such information serves the public interest, especially during a pandemic. Those are key arguments in an amicus brief written by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and signed by 12 organizations, including the National […]
A new law in Maryland opens to the public more police disciplinary records. According to a Nov. 24, 2021, report in The Washington Post, the new law has left police departments scrambling to respond to new records requests. Advocates for open records and police accountability applaud the law. “The inability to obtain records in police […]
The National Freedom of Information Coalition endorsed a letter penned by Reinvent Albany, urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to make COVID-19 data more usable by the public. Reinvent Albany, an NFOIC member, thanked Hochul for publishing more COVID-19 open data, and it asked her to “please finish the job.” “The new COVID-19 webpage and […]
An Osceola County, Florida, judge ruled Nov. 22, 2021, that the county violated the state’s Sunshine Law by holding Executive Policy Group meetings without public notice or opportunity for the public to attend. County resident Josh Meyers for 613 days challenged the county’s assertion that the Sunshine Law did not apply to the Executive Policy […]
