FAYETTE — The Missouri Supreme Court could be tasked with interpreting the state’s open record laws, Judge Scott Hayes of the 14th Judicial Circuit Court said on Wednesday. The legal question at hand is whether or not Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler is considered a law enforcement officer under the Sunshine Law. If Flaspohler’s office is […]
Read More… from Missouri: Legal fight rages on over coroner’s inquest into teenager’s death
CLAYTON — The St. Louis County Council did not violate state’s open-meetings law in December by filing last-minute legislation that cut $31 million from the county budget, the Missouri attorney general’s office said. The ruling came in response to a complaint from local government watchdog Tom Sullivan, of University City, who filed the complaint because the Missouri […]
Read More… from Missouri AG: city council’s last-minute budget cut did not violate Sunshine Law
JEFFERSON CITY — The attorney handling open records requests for Gov. Eric Greitens has left the governor’s office for another position within Missouri government. Special counsel Sarah Madden said Wednesday in an automatic email reply that she stopped fielding Sunshine Law requests for Greitens’ office April 26. Two weeks prior, the News-Leader reported that Madden […]
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is launching another Sunshine Law investigation into fellow Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, this one centered on the governor’s use of social media. Hawley’s office had previously agreed with Greitens that his social media accounts were private, telling the Star in February that it would not require Greitens to turn […]
Read More… from MO: AG Hawley investigating Gov. Greitens’ use of Facebook, other social media
JEFFERSON CITY— The Sunshine Law, Missouri’s open records law, could be getting a big boost through legislation discussed Monday in a state House hearing. Missouri would join at least 15 other states in creating an official division that would not only enforce open records laws more strongly, but also provide guidance to the public and […]
Read More… from Missouri Sunshine Law would get stronger enforcement under new bill
JEFFERSON CITY — A Democratic state senator is asking the Missouri auditor to investigate whether public records generated by Attorney General Josh Hawley were properly disclosed under the state’s Sunshine Law. At issue are records from Hawley’s time in office and his tenure as a professor at the University of Missouri. Sen. Scott Sifton, a […]
Violating Missouri’s public records and Sunshine Laws could become more expensive, and even bring criminal penalties, if legislation introduced in the Missouri House last week passes. We hope it does, but the odds against passage appear to be long. Bills introduced this late in the legislative session have a hard time getting committee votes and […]
Two Missouri lawyers have sued the governor’s office over its use of Confide, an ephemeral messaging mobile app, which they say is in violation of state public records law. The two men are set to appear before a county judge on Friday to ask for a temporary restraining order that would bar current and future […]
Read More… from Judge should order governor to stop using ephemeral messaging app, lawyers say
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is urging lawmakers to make three major changes to how the state enforces its public records laws: · First, he’s proposing to create a new division within his office that would have independence when investigating state violators of the Sunshine Law, Missouri’s open records law. · Hawley is asking […]
Read More… from Missouri AG Proposes Penalty for Violating Records Retention Law
A circuit court judge has ruled that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department broke the law in refusing to make officer conduct complaints available to the public — and must "permanently" stop concealing those records going forward.
[…]
Read More… from St. Louis Police Must Release Internal Affairs Records to the Public, Court Finds
