Transparency News, 6/6/2022

Monday
June 6, 2022

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state & local news stories

The FOIA Council is meeting in person today at 1 p.m. (I think) it will be broadcast through the Senate video streaming system. It's the first and only item listed under "Upcoming Events," though no link is available. An agenda had not been posted as of 8 a.m.

Virginia lawmakers are being accused of sneaking an attempt to ban skill games into the recently passed state budget without any public input. Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Galax City) slammed a small group of negotiators for inserting language on skill games in the must-pass budget at the last minute and interfering with an issue that is pending in court. “What a select few legislators have done here is to force feed to the rest of the membership of the General Assembly a radical change to the criminal code that was not previously introduced as a stand-alone bill in the regular session, never debated by any committee, and never fully vetted by both chambers through the regular legislative process,” Stanley said in a statement.  House Appropriations Committee Chair Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) said he crafted the language with Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), his Democratic counterpart, as well as legislative staff.  Asked if lobbyists for the casino industry were involved, Knight said, “Zero that I’m aware of.” Knight and Howell refused to answer questions from another media outlet on whether the budget would address skill games before the budget was released.
WRIC

Members of the Bristol Virginia City Council received an update Saturday on a lawsuit filed by its sister city Bristol, Tennessee and about their response. The council met with City Manager/City Attorney Randy Eads for an hour and 40 minutes in a called closed session to review details of the complaint and a companion motion filed May 26 in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. The meeting was held outside the presence of the public and news media because it involved legal action. No action was taken and a second closed session is scheduled Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
Bristol Herald Courier

On Friday, Hampton Police announced a new community app known as Atlas One. In a press release, they describe it as "a new mobile app intended to bring the police closer with local residents." The app allows residents to get information about important incidents and events in the community. It replaces the “Connect Protect” app that was launched in 2017 that will no longer be available starting July 1.
WAVY

At its meeting on Thurs., May 27, the Town of Iron Gate’s Town Council approved the first reading of its 2022-2023 budget that includes an increase in cigarette taxes and sewer rates. Councilman Gary Craig asked why the Town’s website was not up to date, and Unroe explained that the Town lost its original website domainand had to secure a new one which has resulted in some still visiting the original one.
Virginian Review

In November, Halifax County School Board approved salary increases for all Halifax County Public School employees. School employees received new contracts with their increased salary in either January or February, dependent upon if he or she is a 10-month employee or 12-month employee. The Gazette plans to print all HCPS employees’ salaries, but due to space, they will be printed in multiple editions. The Gazette also plans to print salaries of all county employees, Halifax County Industrial Development Authority employees, town of South Boston employees and town of Halifax employees. Years of service of school employees also were requested, however, director of student services Jeff Davis said they are exempted as a personnel record under VA Code 2.2-3705.1(1).
The Gazette-Virginian
 

stories of national interest

Jan. 6 select committee leaders are furious that a onetime adviser to the panel, former Rep. Denver Riggleman, divulged private details about their work in what they say was an “unauthorized” CNN interview. In an internal email obtained by POLITICO that was sent Wednesday night, shortly after the interview aired, staff director David Buckley told colleagues that Riggleman’s appearance was “in direct contravention to his employment agreement.”  In media interviews, Riggleman has described leading an effort to dissect a batch of text messages that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows provided to the committee and to link the phone numbers to names. Those text messages were obtained last month by CNN, which has published batches of them periodically, though the station has not released the full cache.
Politico

A federal appeals court has upheld part of a 2020 Connecticut police accountability law that allows public disclosure of state trooper personnel files and internal investigations. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Thursday rejected a challenge by the Connecticut State Police Union, which argued the law violates the 2018-2022 troopers’ contract by stripping away its exemptions from state freedom of information laws. The contract section in question says troopers’ personnel files and documents in internal investigations that end with no finding of wrongdoing are not subject to disclosure. A three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld a ruling by a judge in a lower court who rejected the union’s request to bar the law section from taking effect during its court challenge.
The Washington Post

The Administrative Conference of the United States is concerned with how federal agencies carry out laws. Now it’s launched a study to examine the laws governing disclosure of agency legal activities. And whether there’s a way to streamline legal disclosure. It’s an effort that potentially affects every single agency. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to one of the study group members of The Ohio State University law professor Margaret Kwoka. Tom Temin: So this study group is looking at things to recommend to Congress to do what exactly? Margaret Kwoka: As it stands right now, there are a variety of statutes that mandate that agencies publish certain types of materials on their websites, or make them affirmatively available. Some of them have to be published in the Federal Register. And so we’re looking at sort of a variety of statutes that impact the question of what agencies must disclose on a proactive basis. And that includes FOIA, of course, the Freedom of Information Act, it includes the E-Government Act, it includes the Federal Register Act, among others, and certainly there are substance-specific areas as well. And each of them can impact an agency’s obligations.
Federal News Network