New York state lawmakers repealed a decades-old law Tuesday that has kept law enforcement officers’ disciplinary records secret, spurred by the national uproar over the death of George Floyd. The measure to make officers’ records and misconduct complaints public is among several police accountability bills racing through the state legislature. Lawmakers passed other bills that […]
Read More… from New York passes bill to unveil police discipline records
Nearly every state allows citizens to access records about state legislatures and governors. Not Michigan. It’s not for a lack of trying. Bills introduced in each of the last two years have passed the Michigan House but died in the Senate. Jane Briggs-Bunting, founding president and current board member of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, says she’ll keep working […]
Read More… from Why Isn’t the Michigan Legislature Covered by the Freedom of Information Act?
Here's a New Year's resolution for North Dakota lawmakers: Pass transparency provisions for political campaigns as well as state and local governments.
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Read More… from ND lawmakers should resolve to pass transparency provisions
BOSTON — Reform of the decades-old public records law is getting strong support on Beacon Hill, but many lawmakers balk at lifting exemptions to open-government laws that shield much of their work from public view.
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Read More… from Massachusetts: Lawmakers back open government reforms – but not for themselves
A legislative session that was most notable for how little it accomplished followed suit on issues regarding open, transparent government.
In what should be considered a victory, a new South Carolina law will do what many thought was already called for and had thus been doing for years. It requires public bodies to have agendas. Further, the agenda may be changed only with proof of emergency circumstances and two thirds of the body agreeing to the changes.
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Read More… from South Carolina: Lawmakers half-hearted about FOI
For advocates of government transparency, there’s a particularly delicious paragraph in a judge’s written decision upholding the lawsuit that this news group and its sister organization filed against the state Senate.
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Read More… from California: The people are victors in lawsuit against state Senate
The past few weeks of Minnesota's 2015 legislative session aredisproving that old saying about legislation — much like sausage, you don't want to see how it's made.
The more Central Minnesotans learn about last-minute legislative offers, rejections and stealthily silent changes to legislation, the more they should watch and push lawmakers to change how they do the public's business. Continue>>>
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Read More… from 2015 session in Minnesota shows importance of transparency
SALEM — Lawmakers in Salem love to repeat the quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck, that bill writing is akin to sausage making.
“I was talking to a friend and he said to me, ‘if you like laws or if you like sausage, it’s probably best not to see either one of them getting made’,” Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego, said during a committee meeting in May.
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Read More… from Oregon – Bill extending records transparency to Legislature dies
Attorneys for House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court, seeking information about Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart.
Hart is serving as state prosecutor in the ethics case against Hubbard, who was indicted last year on 23 felony charges of using his current office and former role as chairman of the state Republican Party for personal gain. Al.com first reported the FOIA request Friday evening.
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Read More… from Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s legal team files Freedom of Information lawsuit
It seems it was only a few days ago that Rose and I, along with our little guys, were heaving candy from the back of a pickup truck crawling down Calhoun Street during the Bluffton Christmas Parade. We have yet to finish taking down the Christmas decorations, and already we have two children deeply involved in basketball, with school going full-bore.
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Read More… from FOIA among priorities for SC legislative session
