Carnival of Open Records
Aug 29th, 2007 by dani_k
Welcome to the Fourth edition of the Carnival of Open Records! As we gear up to enjoy the last weekend of summer, I thought it appropriate for the Open Records community to celebrate our national Labor Day holiday by spotlighting open records challenges state-by-state. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Leslie over at State Sunshine and Open Records.
MISSISSIPPI: Today marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast. The Jackson, MS Clarion Ledger has been reporting on the spending habits of the MD-based firm overseeing Mississippi’s Homeowner Grant Program. Ledger reporter Chris Joyner’s blog details the difficulties reporters have had in obtaining public information from the Mississippi Development Authority. Some of the costs billed to taxpayers included “limousine rentals, airline tickets for employee’s ’significant others’ and pet boarding costs… So far, the Reznick Group has returned about $70,000 in taxpayer money, with possibly more coming. ”
CONNECTICUT: The Cool Justice Report writes about a school district’s legal costs associated with a free speech case. The school district claims that most of the fees would be absorbed by their insurance policy, however, as Cool Justice points out, the deductible on the premium is only $5,000.
MISSOURI: Sunshine in Missouri reports on closed meetings which may or may not be illegal. Evidently the city’s mayor and city council have signed confidentiality agreements. So, writes Sunshine in Missouri, “What does this agreement say? Citizens can’t find out because it’s SECRET! Did the city violate the sunshine law signing this agreement? We’ll never know because it’s SECRET! Does it promise confidentiality beyond what the sunshine law permits? They can’t tell you because it’s SECRET!”
PENNSYLVANIA: The Freedom of Information Coalition has announced it will hold a series of public forums about open records reform around the state, with stops in Pittsburgh, State College, Camp Hill (outside of Harrisburg) and Philadelphia. We’ll be there - and we hope you will be to! We promise to file a full report on the meetings.
WASHINGTON: The Open Government Blog reports on their state’s first Sunshine Committee meeting. It sounds like Washington and PA are in the same boat, as Og-Blog reports that the “Comittee wrestled with these questions: What is an ‘exemption’ from disclosure? How many there are? Where are they? How should the exemptions be categorized so that hearings on a given topic (like agricultural records) could take place in one sitting thus allowing interested parties to present testimony? Finally, what criteria should the Committee use to decide whether a given exemption stays, goes, or should be modified?”
CALIFORNIA: The Internet Open Records project reports that, in California, the salaries of government employees have been ruled as public information. Tales of Obtaining Public Records has a detailed timeline on the lawsuit.
MARYLAND: The FOI Advocate linked to an excellent column from the Washington Post that spotlights the secrecy of schools.
NORTH DAKOTA: The State Sunshine and Open Records blog awarded their “Troublemaker of the Week” award to Chad Nodland of the North Decoder blog. The story is a little complicated, so if I were you, I’d check out both blogs to get the full story.
IOWA: It’s not an open records blog, but Student Loan Info for Parents reports on the Des Moines Register’s requests for an Iowa Student Loan employee’s emails. Iowa Student Loan filed - and then dropped - a lawsuit trying to block the paper’s access to the emails.
WASHINGTON, DC: The FOIA Blog is celebrating their one-year blogaversary birthday! Great job, and keep it up!
Also in DC news, the Society of Professional Journalist’s Freedom of Information Committee blog is hoping to round up all of their State Sunshine Committee chairs at their national meeting in October…those folks certainly know what they’re talking about!
NATIONWIDE: The PI Buzz reports that there is a “roller coaster” of reactions to posting public information on the web, spotlighting best practices, proposed overhauls and objections from NORTH CAROLINA, COLORADO, WASHINGTON, NEW YORK and FLORIDA.
Also, lifehacker has a great list of online resources for public records in most states.
I hope you enjoyed the Carnival - I hope you all enjoy the long weekend and have a safe and happy holiday.
Remember, next week the Carnival is hosted by State Sunshine and Open Records!