It was two snippets of video that ended up costing Melissa Click her job last week.
Click shot from obscurity to infamy in November when, while employed as an assistant professor of communications at the University of Missouri in Columbia, she was caught on tape calling for “some muscle” to remove a student videographer from a public space during a campus protest.
[…]
Read More… from How the Melissa Click case highlights tensions around police body-cam footage
A controversial Washington state bill that would have allowed local agencies to prioritize how they fulfill public records requests is dead.
House Bill 2576, which drew criticism from open-government proponents, but had strong support from local government entities, has been placed in the Washington State House Rules Committee “X” file, and will receive no further consideration this session, said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Joan McBride, D-Kirkland.
[…]
Read More… from Washington state bill targeting public records access is dead
When he first became chief clerk of the Missouri House in 2006, Adam Crumbliss’ view of Missouri’s Sunshine Law likely wasn’t much different than most.
“Legislators are part of government,” he said. “Government records are open. So I assumed legislative records should be open.”
Over time, as he’s studied the issue further, his opinion evolved.
[…]
Read More… from Missouri lawmakers claim they’re exempt from the Sunshine Law
The Sumner County Board of Education must accept records requests via email and telephone by next week, according to a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling Wednesday.
The school system requested a stay by the appeals court last month, which would have delayed the implementation of a new public records policy by March 1.
However, the court found “no grounds to reverse the trial court’s decision” regarding the request.
[…]
Read More… from Tennessee judge denies stay in Sumner schools open records case
Facing scrutiny and criticism from civil rights and open government groups, a leading state lawmaker said Tuesday he was considering changes to proposed legislation that would shield police video and 911 recordings from the public.
"This is a work in progress," state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) said of his bill (S788), which would exempt such recordings and transcripts from the New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, during a transparency forum hosted by the Bergen County chapter of the NAACP.
[…]
It is time to modernize the Colorado Open Records Act, or CORA, to ensure the public can access government records in digital formats that allow them to understand and analyze the contents of these public records.
The public must have access to such records to hold their governments accountable and to promote greater transparency, civic engagement and public trust.
[…]
Read More… from [Op-ed] Senator: Time to modernize Colorado Open Records Act
Obtaining fee waivers for open records requests may be more likely under a bill that the Utah House passed Thursday.
Representatives approved HB63 on a 68-2 vote and sent it to the Senate.
Its sponsor, House Democratic Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said Utah's open-records laws now allow and encourage state and local agencies to waive fees for requests if they determine them to be in the public interest. Continue…
[…]
Read More… from Utah bill advances to help fee waivers for open records requests
A Sedgwick County judge has ruled that a Wichita State University statistician won’t get access to paper tapes from voting machines to search for fraud or mistakes.
Judge Tim Lahey denied a motion by Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman to dismiss the case brought by statistician Beth Clarkson. But that was a hollow victory for Clarkson. Her point in filing the lawsuit was to gain access to the tapes to check the accuracy of the voting machines, searching for an answer to statistical anomalies she has found in election results.
[…]
Read More… from Judge denies Kansas statistician access to paper tapes to audit voting machines
An Iowa Senate subcommittee on Tuesday approved a bill that would launch a study of the use, storage, public inspection and confidentiality of body camera video.
Body cameras are increasingly worn by Iowa law enforcement officers to record interactions with the public. The devices are often promoted as improving accountability for police, but in several cases law enforcement agencies have refused to release the videos.
[…]
Read More… from Police body camera study bill sent to Iowa Senate panel
