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Tuesday
March 20, 2018
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state & local news stories
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 Arlington suggested critics of the county's refusal to turn over its Amazon headquarters proposal should go to Richmond to push for more transparency there.
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Visit VCOG's round-up of 2018 Sunshine Week in Virginia articles, editorials and columns. Thanks to everyone who worked to bring government transparency and access to the fore. (If you know of a piece not included in the list, please send me the link.)
VCOG website
The dance between Arlington County Board members and those who want a fast, comprehensive release of information about incentives being dangled in front of Amazon continued at the March 17 County Board meeting. “Taxpayers deserve to know,” said Arlington County Republican Committee member Spencer Chretien. “Many jurisdictions [vying for Amazon’s attention] . . . have released detailed reports about what they’re offering.” County Board Chairman Katie Cristol in January promised that, win or lose the Amazon sweepstakes, county officials would release information about the proffered incentives – eventually. It’s a mantra she repeated on March 17. Arlington officials say their hands are tied, in part, by the state government, and suggested critics of the county should go to Richmond to push for more transparency there, as well. Cristol noted that before any economic-incentive pact is approved, the County Board must hold a public hearing and take a public vote. “There will be an opportunity for public comment,” she said.
Inside NoVa
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stories of national interest
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court has removed language that was critical of the state attorney general's office in an Open Records Act case involving communications between then-Attorney General Scott Pruitt and major energy companies as well as the Republican Attorney General's Association. The court ruled Monday that the trial judge's characterization of the office as an "abject failure" in complying with the law was "surplus and unnecessary." The wording is in a 2017 ruling that ordered the attorney general's office to provide the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy with the records it had requested in 2015 involving Pruitt, who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency.
U.S. News & World Report
The West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of the First Amendment to completely restrict a person's access to the internetas a condition of their parole from prison, and that such restrictions must be tailored based on the nature of a person's crime. The justices ruled it was unconstitutional for the West Virginia Parole Board to revoke a man's parole because his girlfriend had a computer with internet access, even though he didn't use the computer, Justice Menis Ketchum wrote in the court's opinion handed down March 12.
Governing
All of the recent sexual harassment controversies surrounding Springfield (Illinois) lawmakers and House Speaker Michael Madigan have come to light without the aid of a significant transparency tool: the Freedom of Information Act. Illinois' FOIA laws had been criticized as having too many exemptions and no real recourse for a government denial of a request. They became stronger in 2010. They now include civil penalties of up to $5,000, but they're rarely applied and many other loopholes remain. One glaring exception from these transparency laws is for the lawmakers who wrote them.
Illinois News Network
The Montana Legislature is replacing its current email system with one that is expected to make it easier to comply with open records requests. The new email has an automatic archive system that will retain legislators' emails for five years after their terms end to comply with state law, the Missoulian reports. Lee Newspapers of Montana reported in January 2017 that state employee emails were not being stored in the state archives. Todd Everts, legal director of the state's Legislative Services Division, noted a lawsuit was filed against the division and Republican Sen. Jennifer Fielder a year ago by the ethics group Campaign for Accountability, after the division and Fielder failed to release records that had been requested.
The Kansas City Star
It’s been a big year for free speech at the Supreme Court. Two of the most high-profile cases argued before the court so far have revolved around free speech rights, four other cases on the docket this term involve free speech questions, and yet another case where the issue is paramount greets the court on Tuesday. The court today is hearing arguments on whether the state of California is trampling on the free speech rights of crisis pregnancy centers — nonprofit organizations that do not perform abortions and encourage women to seek alternatives to the procedure — by requiring them to post notices explaining patients’ ability to access abortion and other medical services.
FiveThirtyEight
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 All of the recent sexual harassment controversies surrounding Illinois lawmakers have come to light with the aid of a significant transparency tool: the Freedom of Information Act.
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editorials & columns
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 "We want the General Assembly to lean toward an espousing principle as it crafts legislation: Open and transparent government is good government."
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This board would like to say the 2018 General Assembly session was free of briar and bramble, although it was not. Virginia must navigate a winding path toward creating a more open and transparent government. More than 170 exemptions in FOIA still provide plenty of shade to information readily available in other states. And legislators missed some key opportunities during the 2018 session. Looking ahead to 2019, we want the General Assembly to lean toward an espousing principle as it crafts legislation: Open and transparent government is good government.
Daily Press
We’ve already praised Virginia’s House of Delegates for reversing a rule that allowed bills to be killed in committee or subcommittee without a recorded vote (“Va. House makes smart transformation,” Jan. 24). Now we have statistical evidence about the results of that change. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the number of bills killed on unrecorded votes dropped to 30 percent this year, from 55 percent last year. In other words, when they knew the public could track their votes, lawmakers were much less likely to summarily eliminate a bill without at least some type of justification. This doesn’t mean that the system has suddenly been rendered flawless. There are still ways that lawmakers can skewer bills without giving them a full hearing.
Daily Progress
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