Colorado lawmakers in 2016 rejected an opportunity to bring the state’s open-records law into the 21st century.
They also decided that wage-law violations should remain “trade secrets” and that internal affairs files on judicial branch employees should remain confidential, which isn’t the case for other state government workers.
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Read More… from Open-government wins and losses in the 2016 Colorado legislative session
Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say, It’s all right. George Harrison could have written those words about Ohio in recent weeks, as a pair of legal developments have called attention to freedom-of-information issues in the Buckeye State and promise to make state and local government more open.
As one of my friends in the legal world there put it, “Not sure who flipped the switch, but it feels like Sunshine Week … right now.”
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Read More… from Why open government advocates are feeling good about the news from Ohio
What came through loud and clear at the Wisconsin Watchdog Awards dinner last week was that the true winner in last year's fights over open government issues was you.
Well-deserved awards were given, including the 2016 Distinguished Wisconsin Watchdog Award to attorney Robert Dreps, who has spent his career fighting for the public's right to know.
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Read More… from Opinion: On open government, Wisconsin citizens were the real winners
Nearly 95 percent of bills defeated in the Virginia House of Delegates this session went down without a recorded vote, according to a new analysis from the coalition Transparency Virginia.
That means the bills were killed for the year – through one of several procedural motions – without clerks taking note of who voted one way or another.
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Read More… from Unrecorded votes dominate bill deaths in Virginia House
A state government proposal would require Wyoming agencies to charge a standard set of fees for obtaining public records.
The goal: simplifying that process across departments. But some have questioned parts of the proposed rules, including a section that appears to create a potential cost to inspect electronic records.
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Read More… from Proposed rules for public records fees in Wyoming concern open government advocates
The Prince George's County delegation in the Maryland House of Delegates will not meet Friday, but the Democratic caucus of that delegation will. The membership of the delegation and the caucus are precisely the same. The difference is that where delegation meetings are generally open to the public, party caucus meetings are not.
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Read More… from Maryland lawmakers use loophole to dodge open meetings law
Sunshine Week brought some welcome news for transparency advocates this year: Two state courts ruled, in suits brought by news organizations, that freedom-of-information laws require private entities to disclose their records if they perform a public function.
The rulings, which arrived last week during the annual effort to promote awareness of open government, took up one of the key recurring disputes in public-records law, and both resolved it in favor of greater access.
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Read More… from How two court rulings involving universities breathe new life into the right to know
In 1910, Congress passed the Enabling Act that would allow New Mexico to become a state. The act set forth the terms and conditions that would finally, after nearly 60 years of trying, allow New Mexico to join the Union.
Chief among those requirements was that a constitution be in place. So in October of that year, 100 men gathered in Santa Fe to write one. It was overwhelmingly a conservative group, 71 Republicans from the conservative wing of the party, 28 Democrats and 1 Socialist.
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Read More… from Op-ed: Here’s how New Mexico can create a more open, ethical legislature
For those using freedom of information laws in the United States, the race for records is almost always marathon: At the federal level, over the course of 9,166 requests, we've found an average wait time of 140 days — even though the law states records should be returned in just 20.
Most states are better, but not near where they should be: Massachusetts has an average response time of 80 days and California, you'll wait 49 days, even though their respective laws require responses within 10 days.
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Read More… from This Sunshine Week, how would you #FixFOIABy50?
More than 40 organizations and individuals committed to government openness and accountability sent a letter thanking Senators Grassley, Leahy and Cornyn for their authorship of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (S.337), and urging the earliest possible passage of the bill.
The FOIA Improvement Act has received overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle and from the openness community, and includes necessary measures to enable public oversight that is critical to ensuring government accountability.
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Read More… from Open government groups ask Senate to pass FOIA reforms during Sunshine Week
