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FOIA Council steps up
At its Sept. 12 meeting, the FOIA Council took two encouraging steps toward open government in Virginia.
In one instance, the council unanimously recommended that the State Corporation Commission, Del. Scot Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) and interested stakeholders work together to find mutually agreeable language that would subject at least some of the records or functions of the commission to FOIA. A council subcommittee had previously refused to make such a recommendation, but the full council backtracked. VCOG spoke in favor of the change, noting that similar agenices in other states are subject to their state open records law to some degree. Read a detailed recap of the council deliberations in Virginia Lawyers Weekly.
In the other instance, the council refused to take up the invitation of Hanover County Attorney Sterling Rives and Del. Chris Peace (R-Mechanicsville) to further study Hanover’s suggestion to change FOIA to allow more than two members of a board to talk public business without it being an open meeting under FOIA. Rives told the council that sometimes officials don’t like to talk about controversial issues in public. "The setting is not conducive to throwing out different ideas and debating each other on those ideas. As we might do in a private setting, you come up with all these ideas and then five minutes later you say 'Oh no, that was stupid, let's not do that,'" he said. To which, Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Stafford), chair of the council quipped, "I do it every day when we're in session." Despite the council's disinterest in the idea, Hanover Board Chair W. Canova Peterson IV told The Herald Progress he will continue pushing for change, calling the decision the "first discussion" of the issue, even though the issue was first raised at least as far back as September 2012.
Lieutenant Governor proposes FOIA reform, more
On the last day of September, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling and his Virginia Mainstream Project released a series of proposals designed to "improve the structure and operation of Virginia's state government," according to a news release on Bolling's website. Among the proposals is one to require the FOIA Council to review all current FOIA exemptions "and make recommendations on which exemptions should be removed or amended in order to ensure that Virginia has the fairest open government standards."
Bolling also endorsed a two-term governorship, a full-time lieutenant governor, the establishment of a government performance review commission, merit-based judicial selection, a change in the budget cycle and bipartisan redistricting.
In proposing the FOIA review, Bolling noted that in the 14 years since he reworked FOIA (in conjunction with the late Del. Chip Woodrum), "the General Assembly has added numerous exemptions . . . , all of which have made it more difficult for citizens to get access to information they should be entitled to."
VCOG's Annual Conference - Register TODAY!
We have a spectacular group of speakers and panelists lining up for VCOG's annual conference, which is slated for Dec. 6, at the Williamsburg Community Building.
Our keynote speaker is former U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra, talking about government technology and the promise of open data.
Panels will focus on Virginia's gifts and disclosure laws, ethics, transparency and "The Virginia Way."
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Benson Dendy, Vectre Corporation
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Waldo Jaquith, Open Virginia
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Dr. Quentin Kidd, Christopher Newport University
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Sheila Krumholz, Center for Responsive Politics
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Bob Lewis, The Associated Press
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Vivian Paige, Political observer and columnist
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Brian Schoeneman, Bearing Drift
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Ginger Stanley, Virginia Press Association
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Julian Walker, Virginian-Pilot
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Gordon Witkin, Center for Public Integrity
Early-bird registration runs through Oct. 15, so register today!
To nominate someone for VCOG's annual FOI-open government awards for citizens, media and government, fill out the form here.
Open government in the news
The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors said it will appeal the district court judge's ruling forbidding sectarian prayers before public meetings. The board's chair, Marshall Ecker, who drew statewide attention when he said he was"tak[ing] a stand for Jesus" by supporting the appeal, passed away unexpectedly Sept. 26....Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) reached a compromise over McEachin's request for communications betwee the AG and Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams. In exchange for a longer time frame in which to respond, the AG's office agreed to reduce the hourly rate for searching for the records from $54 to $25.....A general district court judge in Suffolk dismissed four actions brought by a city criticregarding the city’s compliance with FOIA....The Virginia Supreme Court will hear an appeal brought by the American Tradition Institute and Del. Robert Marshall (R-Manassas) over UVa's refusal to release emails of former professor and climate scientist Michael Mann....The Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments Sept. 9 in a case brought by a Charlottesville TV station arguing the judge erred in barring cameras from recording the sentencing phase of George Huguely's case after he was convicted of murder....The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond ruled Sept. 18 that when a police officer "liked" the Facebook page of a candidate for sheriff it was "the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign on one's front yard" and deserved First Amendment protection. The ruling thus revived the officer's lawsuit against the incumbent sheriff, his former employer, for wrongful termination....The York County Board of Supervisors received some heat over a series of two-by-two meetings requested by a local oil refinery to discuss furture plant operations. Though legal under FOIA, VCOG questioned the wisdom of having such meetings arranged by county staff and held at county buildings.....Following a UVa report that found many police departments had not developed policies on written procedures for eyewitness identification, the News & Advance asked six Lynchburg-area jurisdictions for their policies. One of the six did not have any policy, and two of them would not disclose the policies they had.
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