You are here

Open records

@SupremeCtofPa Provides New Guidance on Right-to-Know Law

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that requests for records must be designated to a government agency's designated open-records officer, the Associated Press reports: "The decision overturned ruling by a divided Commonwealth Court that said state and local agencies should presume that any written request for records is a Right-to-Know request."

Here's the decision: http://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/2014/67-map-2013....

#Ferguson, MO Demanding High Fees For Records Requests

Government officials in Ferguson, Mo, want to charge "nearly 10 times the costs of some of their own employees' salaries" before they will release records about the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the Associated Press reports. The records could be released without charge under Missouri's Sunshine Act if officials determined that the materials were in the public interest, the AP reports. The AP notes that "price-gouging for government files is one way that local, state and federal agencies have responded to requests for potentially embarrassing information they may not want released."

Newspaper Sues to Get Executive Branch to Preserve Emails

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has sued to stop the practice of Governor Tom Corbett's administration and other executive-branch agencies of destroying emails after five days, the newspaper's Bill Shackner reports. The lawyers for the newspaper argued that "the state’s practice violates the due process rights of the public seeking release of public records under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law," Shackner further reports.

In another open-records development in Pennsylvania, a grand jury judge lifted a stay blocking the release of what has been described as "as sexually-charged emails circulated among certain Attorney General staff and prosecutors during the course of the Jerry Sandusky probe," according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News' Charles Thompson.

Supreme Court Criticized for Lack of Transparency

The U.S. Supreme Court is being criticized for not doing enough to open public access to court proceedings by a coalition formed to increase transparency in the judiciary, Legal Times' Tony Mauro reports: "'There remains much to be done to bring the institution in line with our expectations of openness from our nation’s top legal officials,' according to an end-of-term report issued by the Coalition for Court Transparency."

The issues being raised include having cameras present for Supreme Court oral arguments, more explanation on why the justices recuse themselves from cases, and the justices maintaining a no-protest zone in front of the Supreme Court.

Company Doe Identified in Row Over Consumer Product Registry

Ergobaby, a manufacturer of baby carriers, has revealed itself as the company that fought to keep its court fight over a consumer product safety report secret, Legal Times reports. The Fourth Circuit ruled that the district court should not have let the company shield its name from the public as it fought to keep the Consumer Product Safety Commission from publishing an incident report about an infant's death--allegedly from one of its products--in an online database.

Open Government Survey Shows Troubling Trends for Transparency

Submitted by Amaris Elliott-Engel on Thu, 02/27/2014 - 08:43

The National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Media Law Resource Center jointly conducted a survey, which showed troubling trends for transparency. Here is an excerpt of the report I wrote for NFOIC and MLRC about the 2013 survey results:

Just as similar informal surveys in 2009 and 2011 had, the 2013 Open Government Survey found a substantial decline over the last two to five years in the amount of resources devoted by media organizations to FOIA and open government issues.

Some 153 representatives of the two organizations participated in the 2013 survey. It showed a continuation of a trend reported two years ago in a prior survey of people in the field who see a decrease in legal resources being applied to FOIA and open government issues. This year 46.2 percent of surveyed MLRC attorneys ("media attorneys") said media organizations had decreased those legal resources substantially, while 35.6 percent of NFOIC representatives indicated the same.

In 2011, 23.37 percent of surveyed media attorneys reported that open government lawsuits had decreased substantially, while 25.5 percent of those surveyed from NFOIC reported the same.

Other results and findings of the jointly administered 2013 survey included these:

* 46.2 percent of the surveyed media attorneys said media organizations had decreased those resources substantially, while 35.6 percent of NFOIC representatives indicated the same.
* 24.6 percent of media attorneys said such resources had decreased slightly, while 25.4 percent of NFOIC representatives indicated the same.
* 3.1. percent of media attorneys said the resources had stayed about the same in contrast to the 20.3 percent of NFOIC representatives who said such resources had stayed on the same level.
* The numbers of respondents in both groups who view that such resources had increased slightly or increased substantially were closer in percentage.

Both media attorneys and freedom of information professionals reported at a high rate that "emerging forms of public data and proactive disclosures" have not made their services and resources less needed over the last two to five years:

*20 percent of media attorneys said their services are much more needed with the rise of public data and proactive disclosure by governmental entities, while 33.9 percent of NFOIC correspondents indicated the same.
* 18.3 percent of media attorneys said their services are slightly more needed, while 21.4 percent of NFOIC respondents indicated the same.
* Fifty percent of media attorneys said there was no change, while 41.1 percent of NFOIC respondents indicated the same.

More NFOIC respondents than media attorneys reported that enforcement mechanisms for noncompliance by governmental officials with open government rules were ineffective:

* 33.9 percent of NFOIC respondents said enforcement measures were not effective at all, while 16.4 percent of media attorneys reported the same thing.
* 32.2 percent of NFOIC members said enforcement measures were somewhat effective, while 42.6 percent of media attorneys reported the same thing.
* The number of media attorney and NFOIC respondents who said enforcement measures were somewhat ineffective was very close with 21.3 percent of media attorneys reporting that and 22.0 percent of NFOIC correspondents reporting that.

The majority of media attorneys and NFOIC respondents said that "disingenuous rationalization" was the most common reason why government officials deny access to information. Interpretations of statutory language and "inappropriate game-playing" were the next most common reasons for governmental officials to deny access to information, those surveyed reported.

 

Ct Justices Skeptical of Theory Letting Law Enforcement Control Criminal-Case Information

The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of  people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until after criminal cases are done.But 'it appeared that the justices were skeptical of a legal theory that would give prosecutors and police departments complete discretion on how much information they have to release about a criminal case, once they have released the basic 'police blotter' facts of the arrest," The Connecticut Law Tribune reports.

Ct Justices Skeptical of Theory Letting Law Enforcement Control Criminal-Case Information

The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of  people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until after criminal cases are done.But 'it appeared that the justices were skeptical of a legal theory that would give prosecutors and police departments complete discretion on how much information they have to release about a criminal case, once they have released the basic 'police blotter' facts of the arrest," The Connecticut Law Tribune reports.

Ct Justices Skeptical of Theory Letting Law Enforcement Control Criminal-Case Information

The Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on conflicting interpretations of that state's Freedom of Information Law. Law enforcement representatives are arguing that, once they have released the names and addresses of  people who've been arrested, as well as the dates, times and places of their arrests and the offenses with which they were charged, that they can decide what's exempt from disclosure until after criminal cases are done.But 'it appeared that the justices were skeptical of a legal theory that would give prosecutors and police departments complete discretion on how much information they have to release about a criminal case, once they have released the basic 'police blotter' facts of the arrest," The Connecticut Law Tribune reports.

Prisoner Access to Open Records Might Narrow in PA

The Philadelphia City Paper reports on multiple legislative proposals pending in Pennsylvania to deny prisoners access to open records. On one hand, access to public records allows prisoners, including "jailhouse lawyers," to investigate the conditions of their confinement. On the other hand, public officials report being inundated with public-records requests from inmates, including flr personal information about the public employees who played a role in their incarceration.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Open records