Newsletter

  www.opengovva.org is packed with new features and the best collection of public-access-related resources.The Coalition officially unveiled its newly designed Web site at its seventh annual conference Nov. 18 in Lexington.Designed by Kathy Cashel of Washington, D.C., and funded by a grant from the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the John S. and James L.…

The Virginia Coalition for Open Government has created what it hopes will be only the first of several editions of the "Citizens’ Pocket Guide to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act." The guide is a concise summary of the FOI law written in ordinary language, broken down into five sections: • The Virginia Freedom of Information…

ENDOWMENT GIFTS PASS $330,000 MARKThanks to a $200,000 challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, VCOG may soon realize its dream of a half-million-dollar endowment fund.In recognition of VCOG’s open-government work, the Knight Foundation approved a 1:1 match, up to $200,000, to create the Coalition’s first endowment. The fund-raising effort got…

  The General Assembly’s Joint Committee Studying the Public Records Act wrapped up its two-year study in November with a spiffy revision to a statute that had not been seriously updated since it was first passed 30 years ago.Many of the amendments added over the years had grown obsolete; others create internal and external inconsistencies; and…

Legislatures have a habit of writing open-government loopholes for themselves, especially when they’re striking last-minute deals or forcing party-line votes. Not all do it so blatantly as New Mexico, however.There, the Open Meetings Act requires that “all meetings of any public body except the legislature and the courts shall be public meetings.” The state Association…

Calling it a “historic change” for his country, President Vicente Fox signed his country’s first FOI law. The new law guarantees citizen access to nearly all federal government information. It also establishes a Federal Institute for Access to Public Information. The agency will aid information-seekers, train citizens and public officials, and produce an annual report…

Georgia’s 18,000 police officers are getting a 38-page booklet that “very plainly” explains that law enforcement records are subject to public disclosure unless specifically exempted from release.The Georgia First Amendment Foundation, the state press association and seven government organizations produced the booklet, “Georgia Law Enforcement and the Open Records Act.” The guide was produced after…

Access to public information got a strong re-endorsement from Florida voters Nov. 5. In the future, each house of the state legislature must muster a two-thirds vote before adding new open-government exemptions.This is not the first time Florida’s voters have spoken out strongly for transparent government. A decade ago, voters overwhelmingly passed a Public Records…

The national project to create a model guideline for access to electronic records released its final report Oct. 18, 2002. The policy is online at http://www.courtaccess.org/modelpolicy.The project, spearheaded by the National Center for State Courts’ Arlington office and the Justice Management Institute, was officially presented on behalf of the Conference of Chief Justices and the…

Public access to government information has progressively come under attack as part of the war on terrorism. New measures are still being offered, and the fall-out from previously announced measures is, in some cases, just now being felt.Some of the highlights (or, rather, lowlights) include: ” In October, the Justice Department cited the Sept. 11…

Joseph F. Anderson Jr., chief judge of the U.S. District Court in South Carolina, surprised his colleagues in the judiciary and throughout the legal and access communities, when he sent a letter this summer to the other judges on his court recommending that federal courts stop signing orders sealing settlements in civil trials.Anderson said he…

For 11 years, the state’s medical system permitted a Tidewater surgeon to keep practicing  despite the deaths of three of his patients, falsified billing records, a patient having the wrong organ removed and grave complications for others in his care.In 1997, Virginia Beach’s Sentara Bayside hospital warned a Chesapeake hospital that Dr. Robert G.…

Gene Johnson, a 36-year veteran of the Department of Corrections, was tapped by Gov. Warner to head the department, succeeding his ex-boss, Ron Angelone. Johnson is a former warden at St. Brides, Mecklenburg, Southampton and Powhatan correctional centers, and has worked as a regional administrator in several areas of the state.

The Fredericksburg City Council went back to court for its second Freedom of Information Act-related trial in just over a year, and again the taxpayers will pick up the tab. Fredericksburg Circuit Judge John W. Scott ruled Dec. 13 that e-mail circulated among Fredericksburg Mayor Bill Beck, Vice Mayor Scott Howson and Councilman Matt Kelly…

Over the years the U.S. Supreme Court has placed some expression outside the protection of the First Amendment: obscenity, libel and so-called “fighting words.”Based on December’s dramatic oral arguments in a Virginia cross-burning case, the court may be preparing to create a new category of unprotected expression. It might be called “threatening symbols,” or it…

Funding for the Library of Virginia got sharply cut in the state’s budget crisis. By one account, the cumulative effect was a 28 percent reduction in General Fund support.Rather than pass on the cuts to local libraries, the state library absorbed a disproportionate amount of the reductions internally. That meant a staggering 39 percent cut…

Virginia’s three-member local electoral boards want election-day relief from some of FOIA’s procedural rules for public meetings.How, they ask, can they provide three-day advance notice of their routine polling-place work, and how can two board members discuss even a voting-equipment breakdown without prior notice? Rosanna Bencoach, senior policy analyst with the State Board of Elections…

The Virginia General Assembly convenes Jan. 8, 2003, for a short session. Most FOIA bills are assigned to the Senate and House General Laws Committees, then to subcommittees.The House General Laws Committee is chaired by Del. John Reid. The FOIA-Procurement Subcommittee is chaired by Del. Chris Jones and consists of Dels. Thomas Bolvin, Kirk Cox,…

Warner, JLARC propose sweeping tech overhaul Gov. Warner wants a sweeping overhaul of informational technology in state government. A consolidated Virginia Information Technologies Agency would replace the Department of Information Technology, the Department of Technology Planning and the Virginia Information Providers Network Authority.The VIPNet and Virginia Geographic Information Network boards would be abolished. IT divisions…

ALBEMARLE COUNTY  On a 5-2 vote, the school board adopted a gag order for anything discussed in a closed session. Public disclosures can occur only when authorized by a majority vote. But a footnote was added: “Nothing in this policy shall be construed to limit rights protected regarding freedom of expression or freedom of…

According to its 2002 annual report, the FOI Advisory Council fielded 1,011 inquiries from Dec. 1, 2001, to Nov. 30, 2002. That number includes inquiries made by phone and e-mail, as well as requests for written opinions.There were 21 requests for written opinions citizens 12 local government 7 media 2 There were 990 phone and…

Current members of the FOI Advisory Council board will honor Del. Chip Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who served as the council’s first chair before being replaced by Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, in a resolution to be presented some time iin 2003.The resolution commends Woodrum for his two years of service as chair and for his general advocacy…

By unanimous voice votes, the FOI Advisory Council agreed to recommend two legislative proposals to the 2003 General Assembly. The recommendations are the result of two subcommittees created by the council at its June 12, 2002, meeting.One subcommittee, comprised of council members John Edwards, Wat Hopkins and Roger Wiley, studied a bill introduced in 2002…

The FOI Advisory Council issued 11 written advisory opinions between July and November. The council was expected to issue an additional opinion some time in December.In AO-06-02, the council said a prearranged gathering of three members of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors at the request of a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board to…