Sunshine Report

VCOG’s monthly newsletter, July 2018: FOIA Council updates; email disclosures; subpoena; apologies

Sunshine Report for June 2018: SCOVA FOIA case; records sealed because of second-guessing citizen; open government news

Sunshine Report for May 2018: police model; TVa report; amicus brief; FOIA Council meetings; news

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government April 2018 VCOG updates VCOG’s next annual conference will take place during Sunshine Week 2019 instead of during the fall. There will be no conference in the fall of 2018.     Sunshine Week recap VCOG celebrated Sunshine Week, March 11-18, with a host of…

VCOG Sunshine Report for March 2018

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government February 2018 General Assembly in full swing If it’s February, it can only mean one thing: the General Assembly is in full swing, and VCOG is at work monitoring bills that affect — for better or for worse — the public’s right…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government January 2018 General Assembly preview Legislative proposals for the 2018 General Assembly session have been trickling in since late last year, though that trickle will soon become a deluge in advance of legislature’s Jan. 10 start date. Among the proposals already on…

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government December 2017 VCOG’s annual conference Images (courtesy of VCOG board member Lou Emerson) from VCOG’s annual conference: Top row, from left: Jeff Schwaner, reporter at The News Leader, receives his open government award for media for his work on a story that led…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government November 2017 VCOG, the governor, Charlottesville and the Unite the Right rally VCOG sent a letter to the governor asking his office to be more forthcoming with information related to the Aug. 11-12 rallies in Charlottesville. Citing precedent from the panel that reviewed the…

          The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government September 2017 Live streaming comes to the General Assembly At an informational session for lobbyists about the layout of the Pocahontas Building — home to the General Assembly committee rooms and offices for the next four years while…

\ The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government August 2017 Long live the queen! She has been the reigning queen of FOIA for decades, 17 of those years at the helm of the Freedom of Information Advisory Council. But as of today, Maria has left the building.  Maria Everett…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government July 2017 2017-18 Freedom of Information Act The full text of the current version of FOIA can be found on VCOG’s website. (Note: some exemption numbering is subject to correction) Fresh from VCOG’s Blogs   Nuisance requests an obstacle to access to…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government June 2017 Help us help you June marks the last month of VCOG’s fiscal year. Though individual gifts and donations are right where they should be, membership renewals in all categories are lagging. So PLEASE! If you are reading this and you (a) haven’t…

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government May 2017 Transparency Virginia issues third annual report on legislative transparency Transparency Virginia’s third annual report on legislative transparency shows that bills in the House of Delegates are defeated on a roll-call vote only 12% of the time. The report notes…

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government April 2017 Unattended death records: amendments amount to a veto Senate Bill 1102 was drafted in response to a couple of heartwrenching stories where the families of individuals who had died an “unattended death,” including suicide and overdose, were denied access to…

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government March 2017 Pop in for Pop-Up Sunshine Day In honor of Sunshine Week, VCOG is hosting a Pop-Up Sunshine Day — a fast-paced, day of transparency news and even some good old movie fun — on March 16 at the Capitol of…

  The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government January 2017 General Assembly notes From the director, Megan Rhyne: As the General Assembly galloped toward crossover day — the deadline for bills originating in each chamber have to be acted on by that chamber — several bills affecting FOIA were…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government January 2017 VCOG’s annual conference Meeting in the Grand Salon of James Madison’s Montpelier (bottom left), a record number of conference attendees learned about information about businesses in the hands of local and state governments (bottom right), about the practices and legal…

            The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government December 2016 MONDAY is the last day to register for ACCESS16, VCOG’s annual conference There’s still time to register to attend VCOG’s annual conference, but not much. Ticket sales close on Monday afternoon, so don’t wait!…

    VCOG conference to return to James Madison’s Montpelier ACCESS 2016 will be held Dec. 8, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange. This is the site of VCOG’s very first conference in 1999. Here is the tentative line-up of panels: Legislative privilege — the Virginia Supreme Court recently…

                    The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government October 2016 VCOG updates Nominations are being accepted for VCOG’s Freedom of Information Awards, to be presented in the fall of 2016. Entries should be submitted by Nov. 2, 2016, by filling…

The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government September 2016 VCOG updates VCOG will hold its annual conference December 8 at Montpelier, the home of James Madison, who is often credited with being the Founding Father of open government. Stay tuned for details.   ••• VCOG will hold its first…

The Sunshine Report: August 2016 FOIA Council updates At the July 18 meeting of the FOIA Council’s committee on meetings, committee members delayed taking any action on a proposal to require local governments to post meeting minutes online within three days of their final approval. When local government representatives worried about smaller localities without the…

            The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government July 2016 VCOG updates VCOG will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at a dinner on Sept. 22 at the Boathouse Restaurant at Rocketts Landing in Richmond. The dinner will include recognition of Ginger Stanley, who retired yesterday…

            The Sunshine Report: Online Transparency News from the Virginia Coalition for Open Government June 2016   VCOG updates VCOG board member Bob Gibson will be leaving his post as director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the end of the month. But don’t worry, he’s not going far. Bob…