FOI Blog

Surprises are great for birthday parties, but not at public meetings. But surprises are what some citizens get when they’re at a meeting where suddenly a new item is added to the agenda without warning. Discussion may or may not ensue, a vote is taken and boom, that’s it. It’s even worse for the people…

I read an article today about how Florida is launching a new test for middle schoolers to prove that they know as much about how their government works as they do about “Snooki & Jwoww.” It’s no easy task, even without the fake tans and f-bombs. But, at least when you’re talking about government, you…

Come July 1, a lot of new laws will go into effect, proof that the men and women we send to Richmond each year really do accomplish something. There are some changes to the Freedom of Information Act, but luckily, as compared to some years, the changes are few and do not represent any major…

There was nothing special about Teresa Sullivan’s firing. Well, sure, we’re talking about the state’s flagship university, and she was one of the state’s highest paid employees, and she held one of the most coveted jobs in American academia. But for all that, in the eyes of the Freedom of Information Act’s meeting provisions, President…

Of course an email is not a meeting. It’s mail. Electronic mail. It’s no different from sending your friends, colleagues and co-workers notes thrown over the cubicle wall; or dispatching a messenger to deliver a memo across town; or actually putting a stamp on an envelope and — mon dieu! — dropping it in a…

Some public bodies really make it seem like they don’t want to hear what you have to say. It’s not unusual for time limits to be placed on comments made by the public at public meetings. Three minutes is a pretty common limit. It’s not unusual, and it’s not hard to understand why it’s done.…

The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council will be holding three workgroups this summer, and all will require input from the public, as well as from the “stakeholders,” people like me who advocate for certain causes. (If you don’t know about it already, the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council is a gem of a government…

Did you know that in Florida, a government employee’s failure to comply with the state’s public records act can result in not only a $1,000 fine, but also one year in jail? Or both! It’s no mere theoretical penalty, it’s been imposed. Fines imposed on Washington state and local officials have ballooned from $108,000 in…

When I wrote two weeks ago about how I try to concentrate on the access issue, not the underlying controversy, when lending citizens a hand in understanding FOIA, I did not intend to make it one of a two-part series. Nonetheless, two events have me revisiting the notion today. First, campaign finance and disclosure was…

A few years back, you might remember, a little-known organization at the time called the Know Campaign made headlines when it was discovered the group had obtained voting history information and planned to send out personalized mailings to hundreds of households detailing when they’d voted in the past. Voting history records are maintained by the…

Undoubtedly this will sound harsh. Cold. But here it is: I don’t care if there’s going to be a new road running through your neighborhood. It doesn’t matter to me if your child is redistricted to go to a new school. I don’t give a hoot whether the community center is repurposed. Well, thanks a…

It’s true that we don’t know what secrets are being kept that we never find out about. It’s like proving that the dog didn’t bark. Even so, haven’t you noticed that with government information in particular, it almost always has a way of coming out? A recent story in the Daily Press reminded me of…

  What did the Kaine administration know about the shootings at Virginia Tech five years ago and when? Well, thanks to the Library of Virginia, we are starting to know the answer to that question, though it will be months before we have a bigger picture and we may never know all the answers. Here’s…

When a local government is faced with an issue — how to repurpose an old building, whether to implement block scheduling in the high schools, how satisfied the workforce is, where to locate a new government building — they often hire an outside consultant. The consultant comes in, asks a lot of questions, observes what…

I’m writing this on the Amtrak train as winds its way from Williamsburg to D.C. It’s a Spring Break trip to the Big City with my 5-year-old and a family we know from his school. The newness of the train wore off after the first hour, and now he and the three other kids are…

Let’s talk about fees. Fees for filling FOIA requests. Fair fees for filling FOIA requests. Am I sounding too Dr. Seuss-like? Well, sometimes the fees I see some state and local agencies charge to fill requests for public records do resemble some sort of fantastical, tongue-twisting scenario only the late children’s fabulist could concoct. Here’s…

Did you know you’re not smart enough to read government information? You don’t understand legal terminology. You don’t understand context. You can’t distinguish between facts and distortions, not to mention your lack of ability to pick up on self-serving statements. So, rather than make you feel bad about yourself, some in government would like to…

It seems like only yesterday I was writing about a workgroup the governor designed to advise a public body that would operate outside the Freedom of Information Act. Ah yes. Those were the days. I mean, they’re still the days. Did you see it? On Wednesday, Jeff Caldwell, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell told…

An article published over the weekend in Virginia Statehouse News and reprinted by the Daily Press, breathlessly warns us that under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature, “Email records obtained under FOIA will no longer feature information identifying people who talk with local lawmakers.” A public records access expert . . . IN NORTH CAROLINA . . .…

We need your help! A month into the General Assembly session and after crossover, two identical bills were introduced to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Jones, which said that it is a “search” under the 4th Amendment if the police put a GPS device on someone’s vehicle. The bills, HB…

They’re gray. They’re not very attractive. They’re sometimes confusing. But they are essential to the public’s ability to know what its government is doing…and when.   They are public notices, also called legal notices, and they are in your local newspaper for a reason: to keep you informed.   Unfortunately, there are several bills in…

There are some local government actions that the legislature has said are important enough that they must have a special hearing. Often a public comment period must be included, which is not the case for ordinary public meetings. For decades, the legislature has required that notice of these special hearings (called “public notices”) be published…

The sponsors are different each year, but the goal is the same: prohibit the disclosure at local courthouses of concealed handgun permit applications (CHPs). VCOG has opposed the bills in past years and it will again this year. I know a lot of people will disagree with VCOG. Some may agree. As an open government…

Here’s what Virginia’s FOIA says in section 2.2-3707(H) about recording meetings: Any person may photograph, film, record or otherwise reproduce any portion of a meeting required to be open. The public body conducting the meeting may adopt rules governing the placement and use of equipment necessary for broadcasting, photographing, filming or recording a meeting to…

Tuesday is Election Day. All 140 seats of the General Assembly are up for grabs (well, far too many of the seats are not up for grabs because redistricting has put many senators and delegates into “safe” districts). Throw in all the races for local boards of supervisors, town councils, school boards and constitutional officers,…