Compromise reached in ‘3 P’ disclosure rules
The General Assembly approved a temporary FOIA exemption sought by Gov. Kaine and the Department of Transportation. The new language applies only to public/private transportation partnerships, and will expire in one year unless agreement can be reached on a permanent exemption. Left unchanged was the earlier language (Senate Bill 76) requiring more disclosure of other public/private partnerships.
VDOT’s proposals will be studied by the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council in the coming year — giving all interested parties more time to try to craft permanent legislation acceptable to everyone.
The Virginia Department of Transportation — an original stakeholder in the study of SB76 — asked Kaine to suggest amendments that would allow the state, according to Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer, to maintain protection of its negotiation capability on multi-phased transportation projects, such as the Interstate 495 Beltway HOT lane project in Northern Virginia.
Access advocates, including the Virginia Press Association and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, argued against the amendments, saying VDOT made an end-run around the FOI Advisory Council’s work by recruiting Kaine’s office for the amendments.
Following a 2 1/2-hour meeting, Mark Rubin, the governor’s senior policy advisor, agreed to ask Kaine to withdraw his amendments to Senate Bill 76, which was sponsored by Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania and chairman of the FOI Advisory Council. Under the new plan, the governor agreed to send a separate bill to the General Assembly that would:
• keep from disclosure any memos, staff evaluations or other records that, if released, would jeopardize the public or private bargaining ability (to include documented evidence by the responsible public body of the basis for the non-disclosure;
• keep from disclosure records until the bargaining process of other interim agreements or the bargaining process of all phases of the comprehensive agreement are complete;
• allow public entities and any public-appointed independent review panel to hold closed meetings to discuss records that are exempt from disclosure;
• establish a sunset date of July 1, 2007 on the law, giving the FOI Advisory Council ample time to craft more acceptable language on the legislation.
Because the General Assembly was still in special session to discuss budget and transportation issues, the compromise allowed Kaine to submit a new bill.