Transparency News 10/28/15
State and Local Stories
The State Corporation Commission is canceling a massive IT contract that drew accusations of favoritism and a Supreme Court challenge from an unsuccessful bidder. The decision has nothing to do with those allegations, which SCC officials have repeatedly denied, Commission Spokesman Ken Schrad said. The contract was simply too big to work, he said, and will likely be split into two contracts for rebidding. Concerns about the Commission's contracts with software giant CGI go back years. Repeated state audits have found no evidence of favoritism, though five former SCC employees told the Daily Press earlier this year that they left the commission over contracting concerns. Four said the SCC's former chief administrative officer steered contracts to CGI. Twice competing IT company PCC Technology Group complained about this contract to the state Supreme Court, but both arguments were rejected, the most recent earlier this month. Schrad said the original $28.5 million contract was too broad, which became clear during post-award conversations between SCC staffers and CGI. The plan was to replace the commission's mainframe and information system and to install a new document management system.Daily Press
The plaintiffs in a suit challenging 12 majority-black Virginia House of Delegates districts have filed notice with the U.S. Supreme Court that they plan to appeal the verdict that upheld the boundaries. In a 2-1 ruling, a federal three-judge panel on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of the districts that plaintiffs said diluted the voting power of African-Americans.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
VPAP has launched a new tool to connect Virginians with the politics of their communities. Simply enter your address, and "All Politics is Local" will provide a wealth of information relevant to you, including where you vote and who's on the Nov. 3. ballot.
Virginia Public Access Project
HERE'S WHAT'S ON TAP AT VCOG'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE, NOV. 12
PUBLIC OFFICIALS, PRIVATE EMAIL
We've all read about Hillary Clinton's private email server, but we also know the problem isn't limited to high-ranking U.S. officials. Right here in Virginia, public officials are using private email accounts and sending text messages to conduct public business. It isn't illegal, and the records are still subject to FOIA, but if the messages are not properly retained, archived or managed, the public's business is gone forever.
Join our experts -- from the FOIA Council, the Library of Virginia and a town council member -- to learn more about the problem, the best practices, and what we can expect in the future.
Check out the rest of the schedule!
Experts in their field
Stephen Farnsworth, nationally known political analyst at the University of Mary Washington, will discuss the Virginia election results and what they mean for open government in Virginia.
Cori Zarek is a senior advisor on open government at the White House and she'll be sharing information about access initiatives at the federal level and what they mean for state open government laws.
PLUS, VCOG will recognize its annual open-government award citizen, media and government winners.
Data collection and law enforcement
New technology allows law enforcement to collect data on the public and individual suspects. New technology -- in the form of body cameras -- allows law enforcement to collect data about themselves. Who has the right to see what?
Databases: what difference does it make?
Government databases are collections of public records, but often they are treated differently when it comes to requests for them under FOIA. What does the law say and why does it matter to the public and to the open data movement?
Access on campus
Public universities are subject to FOIA in Virginia, but getting access to records, administrators, academics and members of the governing board can prove challenging. How are public universities different -- and not -- from other government bodies?
Editorials/Columns
Virginia’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control wanted to do the right thing. Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration said no. The governor’s people have behaved disgracefully. They tried to deep-six a report the public had every right to see. They tried to deceive the public about why they wouldn’t release it. And they left a state employee twisting in the wind. Last summer, McAuliffe established an ethics and integrity commission. In his executive order creating it, he wrote that state leaders should “take every appropriate action” to ensure “transparency in public endeavors . . . public confidence in government . . . and principled leadership” in order to “forge an ethos of trust.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch
There are a lot of problems with the latest attempt to update Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law, which the Senate unanimously passed on Wednesday. Fortunately, the House has a chance to fix the defects and make the open-records law stronger. The 7-year-old law, which for the first time said that, when in doubt, state agency records are to be open to the public, was a big step forward for Pennsylvania. However, it shortchanged taxpayers by giving widespread exemption to the state’s three biggest university systems — Penn State, Pitt and Temple. Senate Bill 411 would add significantly to what the schools must provide. Beyond listing the salaries of its officers, directors and top 25 highest-paid employees that the law now requires, they would have to provide salary ranges for the next 175 highly paid workers. The universities also would have to file information on faculty salaries, data on the number of employees and how they are deployed, what portion of undergraduate classes are taught by graduate students versus full-time faculty members and more. But other changes in the measure are problematic. It would create a blanket exemption on disclosing the home addresses of public employees, even though such information often is readily available from many sources. The bill also would create an exemption for the home addresses of individuals who call for emergency services. The financial records of volunteer fire and rescue organizations would be off limits to the public, as would the records of tax collectors.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
