Progress on the FOIA front
Staunton News Leader editorial
Freedom of information and the state legislature have had a somewhat stormy relationship in the past. There are still occasions when the General Assembly has to try and “walk the cat backward” after rushing this exception or that amendment to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act through without consulting with the quasi-official FOIA Council, but those instances have been (somewhat thankfully, although there’s room for improvement) limited mostly to the always-fractious House of Delegates.
A recent article by the Charlottesville Daily Progress highlighted the evolution of the way the Senate deals with FOIA issues. Last week, the Senate general laws and technology committee moved to send nearly all of its proposed legislation dealing with public disclosure to the FOIA Council in order for the council’s attorneys to mull the deeper ramifications of the laws and make recommendations about whether these laws are necessary or not.
Although such an open dialogue is still evolving in the House, that such a system exists in the Senate is testimony to the potential for legislative bodies to understand the value of open government to not only the constituents who are served but to legislators who can benefit by being aboveboard in their dealings with the public.
Contrary to some stereotypical views, FOIA is not “inside baseball” for media outlets. Most FOIA requests are citizen-generated and open and accessible government benefits everybody. That the Senate has signed onto the concept so thoroughly is a tribute both to their understanding of FOIA and to the FOIA Council’s ability to generate a good, nonconfrontational but assertive working relationship with the General Assembly. We may still have a long way to go before we’re “there,” but we’ve come a long way from the early struggles about understanding the value of free access to information and its acceptable limitations.
Article published Feb 6, 2007