Arkansas FOIA – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Arkansas: Housing director guilty of information-act violation

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Little Rock's Metropolitan Housing Alliance Executive Director Rodney Forte, who was charged in November with failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, was convicted Thursday of a Class C misdemeanor in the case.

Judge Alice Lightle read a written ruling, calling his behavior a “negligent violation of the Freedom of Information Act." She sentenced Forte to pay a $100 fine and $140 in court costs. A Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Forte has 30 days to appeal to circuit court.

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County Prosecutor Looking To Arrest Housing Official After Agency Demands $16,000 To Fulfill FOIA Request

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This may be about 60% stunt and 40% forceful nudge, but I'm still behind it 100%. For far too long, public officials have treated Freedom of Information laws as an annoyance… at best. In many cases, information designated as eligible for freedom has to be pried out of officials' hands using lawsuits, needlessly-protracted appeals processes or crowd-sourced tenacity.

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Arkansas Republican Party official sues governor over rejected public records request

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From The Republic: LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The executive director of the Arkansas Republican Party filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to force Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to comply with her public records request for documents his office received from those seeking appointments to state boards or commissions.

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Editorial: Your FOIA in action

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From Arkansas Business: We’ll leave it to the professionals to determine whether Paul Bookout, the former state senator who has admitted to misusing campaign funds, should be charged with a crime (although we’ll confess things aren’t looking good).

Ditto for whether Lt. Gov. Mark Darr’s campaign reports amount to worse than exceptionally shoddy bookkeeping.

What we do know is this: Without the state Freedom of Information Act — underused by most Arkansans — we wouldn’t know about either of these cases.

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Arkansas FOIA “Road Shows” held across the state

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From the Arkansas Attorney General: Arkansas has one of the strongest open meetings and open records laws in the country, yet Arkansans may not know all the mechanics or the applications of the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

That’s why the Attorney General’s Office and the Arkansas Press Association present FOIA “Road Shows” in locations across the state each year.

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NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for July 19, 2013

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From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week.

While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

Toledo mayor refuses to release a police department gang-turf map

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Arkansas Secretary of State responds partially to FOIA request

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From The City Wire: A Freedom of Information Act request filed with Secretary of State Mark Martin's office on June 2 has partially been fulfilled, but not before a lawsuit was filed to compel Martin's office to turn over the documents in electronic format.

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NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for July 5, 2013

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From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

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Arkansas open records advocate, journalist McCord dies

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From SFGate:

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Judge rules Arkansas lethal injection records exempt from FOIA

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From SFGate:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Death-row inmates cannot use Arkansas' open records law to obtain information about the origin, history of quality of the drugs the state will use to execute them, a state judge ruled Monday.

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