FOI Blog

Has the dog caught the bus?

Posted 10/18/13 by Megan Rhyne

Great article this month in the magazine Governing. It talks about public participation in government decision-making and the promises and drawbacks of technology.

No longer limited to the "one meeting at one time and if you miss it, too bad," today's technology creates exciting new opportunities for the public to voice its opinion on issues. The challenge to government is figuring out a way to harness all the input. As an official in Austin, Tex., put it:

 

We're not paranoid!

Posted 9/16/13 by Megan Rhyne

I sometimes get the feeling in committee meetings or training sessions that people think I'm being a conspiracy-theorist type when I talk about public bodies using the two-by-two rule to discuss public business out of the public eye.

The general rule is that when 3 or more members of a public body get together to talk about public business it must be done at a meeting that is open to the public and notice of the meeting has been given.

FOIA responses - better use of time?

Posted 9/9/13 by Megan Rhyne

An item out of Sauk Village, Ill., caught my eye this morning. In it, the village clerk complains to NWI.com that the village has been inundated with FOIA requests -- more than 100 this year and 18 on Aug. 27 -- and there’s no “rhyme or reason” to this.

An unnecessary study

Posted 9/3/13 by Megan Rhyne

Proposal to change meeting rules is a solution in search of a problem.

Black and White and Red All Over

Posted 8/26/13 by Megan Rhyne

The Public’s Temporary Camouflage for “Hunting” Gov’t Accountability

Response to Hanover & a thanks

Posted 7/31/13 by Megan Rhyne

Last week, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution that would recommend amending the Freedom of Information Act's meeting provisions. The law currently prohibits more than two members of a board from meeting to talk about public business unless FOIA's public notice requirements have been followed.

Info-gathering in the open

Posted 7/15/13 by Megan Rhyne

Columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote last week in USA Today that civil libertarians are hypocrites when it comes to the NSA controversy on the one hand and the Affordable Health Care Act on the other. Specifically he says,

The specter of a disappearing email system

Posted 7/2/13 by Megan Rhyne

by Jamison Shabanowitz, Laurence E. Richardson Legal Intern for 2013

If an email is sent to a recipient and is deleted before the recipient sees it, does it really exist? 

AT&T’s new patent pending technology answers that question with an affirmative “no.”

Who should judge shock

Posted 6/27/13 by Megan Rhyne

by Jamison Shabanowitz, Laurence E. Richardson Legal Intern for 2013

Earlier this month, the public learned of the communication between the Virginia Attorney General’s office and the lawyers representing two gas companies, EQT Production and CSX Gas, related to the battle over royalties for methane gas in Appalachian coal seams. Bristol’s Herald Courier has posted the relevant emails on their website.

Officials are citizens, too

Posted 6/19/13 by Megan Rhyne

Tom Jackman article in today's Washington Post covers the simmering controversy over the flash-in-the-pan logo for Prince William County.

Here's the breakdown:

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