Tuesday, January 27, 2015
State and Local Stories
The General Assembly’s tech information arm is developing a new legislative information system (LIS) website and wants to hear from you! Share your experiences on using LIS with the DLAS Web department on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 from 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm in the General Assembly Building, 6th floor, Suite 660, DLAS Training Room #675. Feel free to bring your lunch.
There are a bunch of FOIA bills being heard by a Senate subcommittee tomorrow:
We support:
SB893, which removes the working papers exemption for college/university presidents. It’s nothing against the school heads themselves, but use of the working papers/correspondence exemption has been expanded far beyond an original intent to protect the deliberative process, not any- and everything a leader does.
SB969, which puts two parts of a definition of what is/isn’t a meeting into one place. This is not a substantive change, just an organizational one that makes sense.
We are OK with:
SB968, which says public health care committees that don’t have to turn over certain records under discovery don’t have to give them over in a FOIA request. (This was vetted through the FOIA Council prior to the session.)
We oppose — in their current form:
SB1126, which exempts discussion of certain records related to resource management plans. It’s OK to exempt discussion of JUST those records, but as drafted, the proposal covers discussion of even more records. A House version has been amended to limit the exemption.
SB1402, which would exempt from discussions briefings and consultations on criminal street gang-related activities. It’s within a section that allows discussion of plans to deal with terrorism and security measures. The proposal is too broad as written and would allow a school board, for instance, to talk in secret about any and all gang activity at a school, depriving parents of the chance to make informed decisions about their children.
We are monitoring:
SB1109 and SB1129, records and meetings exemptions related to cybersecurity. The wording must remain narrow.
Please contact the subcommittee members to express your opinion. Also contact the bills’ patrons, who can be found when you click on the link for the bill itself.
Subcommittee
Sen. Locke (chair): district02@senate.virginia.gov
Sen. Barker: district39@senate.virginia.gov
Sen. Black: district13@senate.virginia.gov
Sen. Garret: district22@senate.virginia.gov
Sen. Martin: district11@senate.virginia.gov
Law enforcement is concerned that the popular Waze mobile traffic app by Google Inc., which provides real-time road conditions, can also be used to hunt and harm police. Waze is a combination of GPS navigation and social networking. Fifty million users in 200 countries turn to the free service for warnings about nearby congestion, car accidents, speed traps, traffic cameras, construction zones, potholes, stalled vehicles or unsafe weather conditions. Waze users mark police — who are generally working in public spaces — on maps without much distinction other than "visible" or "hidden." Users see a police icon, but it's not immediately clear whether police are there for a speed trap, a sobriety check or a lunch break. To some in law enforcement, this feature amounts to a stalking app for people who want to harm police. They want Google to disable that feature. Some officers, like Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, think it's only a matter of time before Waze is used to hunt and harm police. Nuala O'Connor, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington civil liberties group, said it would not be appropriate for Google to disable the police-reporting feature. "I do not think it is legitimate to ask a person-to-person communication to cease simply because it reports on publicly visible law enforcement," she said.
Herald Courier
In the weeks following the demolition of the historic Rialto building, Councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith, Ward 1, is asking why City Council was left out of the loop. Wilson-Smith brought up the issue during the Council meeting on Tuesday, when she said she found out about plans to demolish the Rialto through social media, instead of from city staff. The 1923 theatre, which hosted performers such as James Brown, was demolished by the city on Jan. 9, after an independent structural engineer determined that the building was in imminent danger of collapse. “I found out about it on Facebook which I don’t think is very nice if that’s the word,” Wilson-Smith said. “I would like to know what’s going on in the city I represent because citizens call us and they ask us questions and I had nothing to tell them because I didn’t know.”
Progress-Index
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