British Columbia
British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act came into effect on Oct. 4, 1993. A year later, the legislation was expanded to include municipalities, schools, hospitals and municipal police forces.
Alberta
Alberta's FOIP Act was given royal assent in 1994 and came into force during five phases. The fifth phase, which happened on Oct. 1, 1999, brought local government bodies including police services under the authority of FOIP.
Saskatchewan
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A task force has been appointed by the chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and members of the Arkansas news media have been invited to meet with the group Friday.
I wasn’t one of the 207 people who got an invitation to the meeting, which isn’t surprising since I’m just a retired editor who continues to write a column. I had a conflict anyway.
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Read More… from Note to the Arkansas task force on FOIA: Just follow the law
The Shenandoah County School Board responded to recent news about Freedom of Information Act requests for employee salary data at its meeting Thursday night.
In December, District 4 Supervisor Cindy Bailey had asked for detailed salary data of school employees and did not want to pay the $700 price that Division Superintendent Jeremy Raley had quoted for producing the data. The price was said to be proportionate to the time and resources used to fulfill the request. Bailey's request failed to draw support from the county's board of supervisors.
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Read More… from Local School Board addresses FOIA request and processes for getting out info
In the aftermath of a political scandal that rocked the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a New York state senator has introduced a bill that would subject the agency to freedom of information law requests from the public.
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Read More… from N.Y. Senator’s bill would subject Port Authority to FOIL laws
While opposed by open-government advocates, a Senate bill advanced in the state Legislature this week – with amendments – to allow county council members to jointly attend any meetings or presentations without violating the state's Sunshine Law, as long as the gathering is open to the public.
An amended Senate Bill 2962 passed out of the Senate Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Among those on the committee, which voted unanimously in favor, was panel Vice Chairwoman and South and West Maui Sen. Roz Baker.
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Read More… from In Hawaii, open-government advocates are alarmed at advancing legislation
Some semi-good news to report here. EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) has received a settlement from the NSA in its long-running lawsuit (dating back to late 2012) against the agency for its withholding of documents related Presidential Directive 54, a national security directive on cybersecurity.
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WASHINGTON — Since last year’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s massive communications data dragnets, the spy agency has been inundated with requests from Americans and others wanting to know if it has files on them. All of them are being turned down.
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Read More… from NSA denies all requests for personal information
An open government organization that has waged a successful legal challenge to the Delaware Court of Chancery’s secret arbitration forum is opposing a U.S. Supreme Court review of the case, saying it doesn’t rise to the highest court’s level.
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Read More… from Group opposes Supreme Court review of Chancery Court’s arbitration forum
Last January, Ann Coulter expressed her anger about The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal-News’ gun-permit map, which it assembled from public records. “I want them for Manhattan!” Coulter told Sean Hannity. “I want to know how many rich liberals with their bodyguards have gun permits.”
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Read More… from From Poynter: FOIA lessons from Gawker Editor John Cook
