trade secrets exception – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Texas: open records bills push back on court rulings

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Capriglione’s House Bill 792 would force government entities to be more specific when asserting the right to withhold documents the government believes would hamper a private company’s competitive stance.

The bill is a response to a 2015 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed aerospace giant Boeing to keep secret its lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense. The ruling carved out a space for private entities doing government business to protect information that those companies believe would give an advantage to a competitor or bidder.

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From CFOIC: House committee unanimously endorses bill to open records on wage-law violations

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A wage-theft transparency measure that died in the Colorado legislature last year passed unanimously Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

The amended version of HB 17-1021 is identical to a proposal that earned bipartisan House support in 2016 but was killed in a Senate committee. The bill allows the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to disclose whether an employer has cheated its workers.

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VA: Gas industry seeks regulations delay, FOIA exemption for fracking

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The gas industry is pushing for a delay in new Virginia drilling regulations until it can get state law changed to protect key information about chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

These regulations, the result of a review that started at the end of 2013, are slated to be finalized shortly before the end of the year. Industry lobbyists this week asked legislators on a commission that monitors the executive branch's regulatory process to help delay implementation until at least July 2017.

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