All non-confidential reports of the Congressional Research Service must be made publicly available online through a Government Publishing Office website within 90 to 270 days under a provision of the 2018 omnibus appropriations act that was passed by Congress and signed by the President last week. The move is the culmination of more than two decades of efforts to encourage, cajole or coerce Congress into making the reports broadly available to the public.
Secrecy News
Aides to Buffalo, New York, Sheriff Timothy B. Howard are refusing to release basic records on an inmate who, her family says, ended up near death in a hospital when jail staff withheld her prescribed medication. The inmate, Jessica D. Huber, has recovered and is back behind bars. But she and her family want to draw attention to her case as an example of lax health care inside the Erie County Holding Center. Howard’s officials in recent years would follow the state’s Freedom of Information Law and release basic facts about unusual incidents in the county’s jails – incidents that included the hospitalization of inmates. But the officials broke from past practice by denying a Buffalo News request for records about Huber, who was brought to Erie County Medical Center weeks ago.
The Buffalo News
It would be hard to find an American government more secretive than the one in Kansas. More than 90 percent of the bills that become law are introduced by anonymous sponsors, while administrative agencies, as a matter of policy, block many records from examination by the public or even lawmakers. Kansas is one of only four states that don’t require public notice of regular public meetings. It’s also one of two, along with Arkansas, that don’t require minutes to be kept at those meetings. Legislators aren’t required to have their votes recorded at the committee level, where much of the action takes place. The practice of “gut and go” — subbing out the entire text of a bill at the last minute — has long been common. What started out as a transportation bill, say, may suddenly be about abortion. And no one outside the committee or leadership has any idea why it happened. That’s no longer the case. The culture of secrecy in the state, which extends to local governments as well, was exposed in a series of articles last fall in the Kansas City Star. The issue has been drawing attention in the state Capitol ever since. The House has cracked down on anonymous bills, while the Senate is working on increased disclosure requirements for lobbyists.
Governing
In Middleton, the Board of Selectmen was accused of setting the town’s tax rate while its meeting was in recess. In Marblehead, the Board of Health has discussed a key issue in secret for a year and a half. In Wenham, a resident says she was in the bathroom when she overheard Planning Board members speaking unfavorably about her proposal before the meeting even started. Those are among the hundreds of complaints filed by citizens every year with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office alleging violations of the state’s open meeting law. The complaints range from the personal — a former South Essex Sewerage District employee alleges that he has been banned from attending public meetings — to the particular, including how and when meeting agendas are posted. The disputes play out in a blizzard of paperwork featuring back-and-forth accusations and responses between citizens and town officials, with the attorney general’s office serving as final arbiter. Citizens who believe a board has violated the open meeting law must first complain to the board itself. If they’re not satisfied with the board’s response, they can appeal to the attorney general’s Division of Open Government. In 2017, the division received a record 323 complaints, according to its annual report.
The Salem News
“You can say things and don’t have to worry about it getting out and the next thing you know you get hung out to dry.”
“More than 90 percent of the bills that become law are introduced by anonymous sponsors.”
“Either he didn’t know the law, or he understood it perfectly and didn’t care the comments could get out.”