Public access to government information is sometimes blocked for a variety of reasons. Legislators are considering adding to that list of reasons. Every year, members of the General Assembly consider exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act. Stuff advocates say the lawmakers want to keep hidden. This year, for example, they approved exemptions for personal contact information of minors who participate in a state program as well as public utility account numbers. Senator Danica Roem is a Democrat from Manassas who consistently votes against each and every FOIA exemption, dozens of them over her time in office. … Megan Rhyne at the Coalition for Open Government says exempting information from disclosure is often tempting to elected officials. “FOIA is all about exposing information, and people in power are uncomfortable with that quite often,” Rhyne says. “And so, when you try to force transparency, that makes a lot of people uncomfortable.”

The Western Virginia Water Authority on Monday released to The Roanoke Rambler records showing how much water a Google data center complex in Botetourt County could use, after spending months and thousands in legal bills trying to hide what everybody already knew. The authority agreed to provide the project 2 million gallons of water daily, climbing to 8 million gallons daily based on future expansion, the final contracts reveal. The information disclosed was expected, but the case could have far-reaching implications in Virginia over whether governments can invoke a “proprietary information” clause in the state’s Freedom of Information Act to withhold certain records from the public. “We see the frequent overuse of the exemptions for trade secrets and proprietary information to include anything and everything the business does,” Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said in an email. “I’m happy to see the judge’s ruling stand.”

Giant data centers are becoming increasingly controversial in Virginia communities amid concerns over their demands for power, water and environmental considerations. However, New Kent County is proposing a fast-track application process for data centers that would allow them to be approved without public hearings. Joshua Airaghi, the county’s director of community development, detailed plans for a technology overlay district in the county last week. Consultants have identified the most favorable sites for data centers in advance of applications. … Airaghi agreed the projects would not require a public hearing if they conformed to the standards set in the overlay district. “The public hearings that I’ve seen around data centers have been very explosive. On the one hand, that perhaps may be a reason not to have so many, but I don’t know that that helps the people that are against it,” said Commissioner Milton Hathaway.

Rulings with wide-ranging implications for western Prince William County are pending after a three-judge appellate court panel heard two separate cases serving as the challenges to the PW Digital Gateway data center project Tuesday in Arlington. Attorneys on both sides made their stances known during oral argument before Virginia Court of Appeals Judges Stuart A. Raphael, Randolph A. Beales and David Bernhard in what plaintiffs’ attorneys are framing as a “David vs. Goliath” impasse. Issues of improper public notice were front and center during the hearing, casting further scrutiny over the lame-duck Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ actions in November and December 2023 prior to the marathon 27-hour Digital Gateway public hearing on Dec. 12-13 of that year.]

A Martinsville Circuit judge on Monday granted suspended Mayor LC Jones’ request for a continuance and a jury trial and appointed former Mayor Gene Teague to serve on the City Council until the case is decided. Judge G. Carter Greer’s order sets a jury trial for 9 a.m. June 5 and states that Jones’ suspension from the Martinsville City Council “shall remain in full force and effect pending the trial.” Jones, acting pro se — meaning he is representing himself without an attorney — filed motions Monday morning seeking to continue a show-cause hearing scheduled for Thursday and to have the matter heard by a jury.