Transparency News 1/12/16

State and Local Stories

HJ 91 (Del. Jim LeMunyon)
Commending the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HJ91

HB 524 (Del. Jim LeMunyon)
Requires data collected by or for the Department of Education or the local school board or made available to and able to be used by the local school board to judge the performance or quality of a teacher, maintained in a teacher's personnel file or otherwise, to be confidential in most instances. Current law requires such data to be confidential only if it is used by a local school board to make such a judgment. The bill provides that if such data is disclosed pursuant to court order, for the purposes of a grievance proceeding involving the teacher, or as otherwise required by state or federal law, such disclosure shall be made in a form that does not personally identify any student or other teacher.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HB524

HB 550 (Del. Vivian Watts)
Allows an applicant who failed the bar exam to review the essay questions and his answers by submitting a written request no later than 60 days after notice of failure to the applicant.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HB550

HB 698 (Del. Kory)
Requires that every public body afford an opportunity for public comment during any open meeting. A public body may adopt reasonable rules governing the public comment portion of the meeting, including imposing reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner. The bill contains technical amendments.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HB698

 Follow these and other bills relating to FOIA and access on VCOG's website 

House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell has a fix for a longstanding complaint of Virginians who want to speak out about legislation but are  often caught flatfooted because subcommittees and committees that do the real work in moving, amending or killing legislation don't give sufficient notice of when a bill is coming before them for consideration. The fix is a new system to get email notifications. To make it work, you need to know what committees legislation you're interested will go do. 
Daily Press

Richmond civic and political leaders on Monday called for further scrutiny of overlap between the First Baptist Church of South Richmond, where Mayor Dwight C. Jones is senior pastor, and the administration of city business. Officials were divided over how best to balance the need to examine patronage in City Hall while protecting religious freedom, but all seemed to agree the answers ultimately would lie with Jones. “I want to know what he knew — and when,” Citizen Audit Committee Chairman Nicholas Valdrighi said of revelations made public last week that a senior city official had overseen some church construction efforts on the clock, and that another had faced political pressure to place a church member in a high-ranking budget position.
Richmond Times-Dispatch


National Stories
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The House on Monday passed legislation that would create the most sweeping reforms to federal open records laws in nearly a decade.  Approved by voice vote, the measure would limit exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that now allow federal agencies to hold back information. The bill would also create a single online portal for people to make FOIA requests and require agencies to publicly post frequently requested records online. The legislation has been years in the making, following persistent complaints about the FOIA process from journalists, the public and members of Congress.
The Hill