Transparency News 1/11/2017

Wednesday, January 11, 2017


State and Local Stories

Bills added to VCOG’s legislative bill chart include:

• HB1794 that would make the court case information database maintained by the Office of Executive Secretary available to the public and HB1844 that requires the OES to maintain a name-searchable database across all circuit courts
• HB1854, the omnibus ethics revision bill that would give local officials authority to redact addresses, personal telephone numbers or signatures.
• HB1932 is another FOIA Council-tweaking bill having to do with the expiration/appointment of citizen member terms.

A bill adding an amendment to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, offered to the state’s House floor for a vote Monday, would keep descriptions of chemical ingredients involved in hydraulic fracturing in the state out of the public eye. If HB 1678, along with its sister bill, HB 1679, pass, companies engaging in hydraulic fracking in Virginia will be able to file for protection of records regarding the names of chemical ingredients and quantities of those chemicals involved in “ground-disturbing activities.” Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy would decide whether such information could be deemed a “trade secret” worthy of a shield from FOIA inquiries, which often come from reporters and activists. Kristin Davis, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told International Business Times the bill not only put Virginians at risk by keeping them from knowing whether their well water might be contaminated by nearby fracking, but also destroyed years of regulatory work by a number of activists and groups including the SELC. 
International Business Times

Erin Marley, 34, was at LewisGale Medical Center on life support after being severely beaten at a Roanoke motel on Thirlane Road. She couldn’t speak. Marley died of blunt force trauma Dec. 5, 23 days after police found her inside an Airport Plaza motel room. Roanoke ended last year with 12 homicides. But police never notified the public about Marley’s death, or about the April 23 death of 48-year-old Paul Trost, a homeless man found below a bridge. His death was also ruled a homicide. The Roanoke Times learned of the Oct. 11 death of David Mills 20 days after it occurred when the newspaper obtained a search warrant. When a reporter initially asked the department Oct. 4 about an assault the day earlier, police said a man had been injured in a fight with his son. No state law requires departments to let the public know when a death is ruled a homicide, but it might be in a department’s best interest to do so, said Tod Burke, a criminal justice professor at Radford University and former police officer in Maryland.
Roanoke Times

A legal effort to remove three Bath County supervisors from office is a politically motivated move by a small band of critics, a lawyer for the three elected officials argued Tuesday. In a controversy that has roiled this rural county, the board voted 4-1 in September to eliminate the county’s director of tourism position, a decision that critics say was motivated by personal grudges against the woman who held the position, Maggie Anderson, and her husband, Wayne, who worked with her on an economic development project. The petitions allege the board cast its surprise vote after discussing the matter in a closed session, a violation of the state’s open meetings law. “They did it behind closed doors, in secret, and in clear violation of the Freedom of Information Act,” said Alleghany County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ed Stein, who was appointed to represent the citizens seeking the supervisors’ removal. “For whatever reason, they did not want their actions judged in the light of day.”
Roanoke Times

The Virginia Press Association is creating a website where people can search for public notices published by newspapers across the state. The organization, a trade group for newspapers in Virginia, is planning to introduce the PublicNoticeVirginia.comwebsite in April. It will include legal notices routinely published in newspapers and issued by government agencies and private entities such as law firms, contractors and utilities. Those include public meeting notices, foreclosure notices, requests for bids on contracts and proposed zoning changes.
Daily Progress

Waynesboro residents converged on the city's public library Tuesday to learn more and ask questions about a proposed $50 million settlement from DuPont stemming from decades of mercury contamination of the South River. What they got Tuesday was a lengthy lecture and powerpoint presentation from one of the trustees of the natural resource damage assessment plan — and limited opportunities to ask questions or comment publicly. Those who had questions were directed to individual areas with posters, where they could discuss their questions with either trustees or environmental officials.
News Virginian

Richmond City Council is revisiting whether reopening the council chamber’s press gallery to reporters represents a security threat during meetings. “While we had one incident here, there have been numerous incidents across the nation where city council members, boards of supervisors members have been murdered,” said City Council President Chris Hilbert. “That’s a very real threat.”  Hilbert and others, including council members Michael Jones and Ellen Robertson [said that] at a minimum they’d like to see a credentialing process instituted to govern access.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Shenandoah County leaders deadlocked on several routine matters Tuesday, leaving their officers and rules in place for the year. The Board of Supervisors failed to agree on which members would serve as chairman and vice chairman. As a result of tie votes on the matter, District 6 Supervisor Conrad Helsley and District 3 Supervisor Richard Walker retain their posts as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. The board had continued its discussion on the selection officers from its organizational meeting held last week after members failed several times to reach a majority vote on a chairman and vice chairman.
Northern Virginia Daily

The James City County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an update to their sign ordinance after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July 2015 said localities cannot regulate a sign's content. "The reason for this sign ordinance amendment is to comply with Reed vs. Town of Gilbert which states a sign ordinance that regulates signs based on message or content would be subject to strict scrutiny," said John Rogerson, senior zoning officer. "James City County in fact does regulate signs based on content."
Virginia Gazette



National Stories

Uber provides over 1 million rides per day in more than 450 cities around the world, constantly collecting data en route to the destination. Traffic patterns can be filtered by day of the week, time and whether there is an event happening in close proximity. This treasure trove of data is now being offered to city planners and infrastructure policymakers, and will eventually be available to the public. On Jan. 9, Uber announced the release of Movement, “a website that uses Uber’s data to help urban planners make informed decisions about our cities.”
Governing

When the FBI revealed it was able to hack into an iPhone used by one of the terrorists involved in the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, people wanted to know just how the agency did it. In fact, three news organizations sued the FBI in September for just this information. And because of that lawsuit, the agency released 100 pages of documents Friday. The problem is they're heavily censored, according to the Associated Press. The documents don't reveal who the FBI hired to hack into the phone or how much it paid that vendor. The FBI labeled those files "secret" before they were released.
CNET News


Editorials/Columns

Newspapers are dedicated to informing the public. Government officials aren’t — and some would even like to keep the public in the dark. You can see that in the debate over Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, which is salted with exemptions and frequently ignored where exemptions don’t apply. And you can see it in the debate over public notices, which local officials have long tried to shield from public view under the pretext of cost-cutting. Year after year state legislators introduce bills to revoke the requirement that local governments publish notices in local newspapers and instead let them bury the notices deep within government websites. The public should be able to find public notices quickly and easily. To that end, the Virginia Press Association recently announced a new project: a website that will collect notices that are published in newspapers from all around the state. Visitors will be able to search the database by city, county and date range. They even can sign up to receive alerts by email.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The theme for this year's General Assembly needs to be accountability. It's fundamental in any place that believes the people rule. Unfortunately, in Virginia, a place that pioneered representative democracy, it's something our officials could do better. So, it is with accountability in mind — making accountability happen and calling our government to account — that we'd like to ask the General Assembly to act on a series of issues. We ask you to join with us to tell our legislators that these issues matter. Let's start with making accountability happen. Here, there are three critical areas where our laws let us down. The first is the access we Virginians have to the records of our governments and the deliberations of government officials. The second critical area is our ethics law. The third critical area is redistricting.
Daily Press

The annual legislative session opens today amidst restrained, even modest expectations. On the other hand, when 140 energetic, creative souls gather in a confined space, all possessed of the power to propose new laws or undo existing statutes, it’s anyone’s bet what havoc may follow. As Capt. Sully would say, “Brace yourself for impact.” The committees, the subcommittees, all feeding the jammed schedule, the arcane rules of procedure, the social exuberance and liquid consumption, the constant political posturing and assorted foolishness that passes for tradition, the elbowing, interest-driven throngs, the overall din of democratic confusion, would task, frustrate and appall a normal human being. Legislative sessions could be made more accessible to more citizens, and some modest steps in that direction have been taken by the leadership. May they be inspired to do more. A thought: All votes on bills, resolutions and budget amendments — on the floor, in committees and subcommittees, even while crouching down and hiding behind a bush — should be recorded. Just keep it simple. Default in favor of transparency.
Virginian-Pilot