Newsletter

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…

Four open-record exemptions were added to the Freedom of Information Act in the legislature’s 2002 session  not five, as reported in our July newsletter.

VCOG is fortunate and proud to have as its new president Paul K. McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman for the Freedom Forum in Arlington.McMasters has been a VCOG board member since 1998. He came to the Freedom Forum in 1992 after 30 years in journalism and active participation in the Society for Professional Journalists. Paul is…

Web site visits OPENGOVVA.ORG had more than 10,000 unique visits in the last 90 days of 2002. One in five was a repeat visitor each month. Non-U.S. “hits” averaged 3-4 per cent.Heaviest usage occurs on the home page, the FOI-opinion search pages, roundups of legislative activity and our overview of the FOI Act. Membership report…

If nothing else, Access 2002, VCOG’s fourth annual conference, may have foreshadowed what’s to come in the next gubernatorial election.Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for governor, kicked off the conference with a 30-minute speech about open government initiatives he pushed last year and hopes to see through this…

On a Sunday afternoon in November, a van from the Library of Virginia pulled up at a self-storage facility in Richmond and loaded up 236 boxes of the records of former Gov. Jim Gilmore’s administration.A mediated settlement produced the public records, five months after state archivists had been told the records did not exist “or…

The joint subcommittee to study the protection of court records (HJR89) wrapped up its first year with five proposals to submit to the 2003 General Assembly.Chaired by Vienna Republican Jeannemarie Devolites, the committee agreed to ask the General Assembly to extend the study commission for an additional two years. Committee members became increasingly aware that…