Transparency News 1/18/17
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
State and Local Stories
State and Local Stories
Eight bills on FOIA will be heard by a Senate subcommittee today at 9 a.m. And what a difference a year makes! Last year, we were fighting against multiple bad bills, like the one that would have made the names of police officers exempt and one to limit which public employee salaries were disclosed. This year, only two of the eight are problematic, and the patrons for both have been working with VCOG and others to address concerns. Here’s the link to the agenda (http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sub+S120010118). Unlike the House, the Senate subcommittees can only recommend action, they cannot kill a bill. Only the full committee can do that, but the subcommittee testimony is still important. If you can come support open government this morning, we’d love to see you there!
A bipartisan group of 15 lawmakers from both General Assembly chambers spoke out Tuesday against public universities they said seemed to have forgotten they are state-supported schools. At a news conference at the state Capitol, the legislators said two dozen or so bills will address issues related to transparency and access and affordability this session. The group did not coalesce behind any one piece of legislation but said the General Assembly plans a debate that is overdue.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dish Network and Gray Television reached a last-minute deal on Tuesday to avoid blacking out WHSV-TV3. Tracey Jones, WHSV’s general manager, said the companies reached the deal by the 7 p.m. deadline to continue broadcasting the station. The terms of the deal were not released.
Daily News Record
The Williamsburg-James City County School Board members passed VBSA’s code of conduct at their meeting Tuesday night — with one edit. The discussion started at the board’s Jan. 3 meeting, with Lisa Ownby (JCC Powhatan) bringing up line item nine. It reads, “I will refrain from using the board position for personal or partisan gain and avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety.” “This says to me, as a board member, that I should not hold a leadership position in a local political party, be beholden to any political party, make board decisions based on political party platforms or agendas, actively campaign as a partisan or campaign in a partisan way against other school board members,” Ownby said. Sandra Young (JCC Berkeley) said she disagrees with that line because it goes against rights granted by the first amendment. Young is also the president of a local partisan group, the Jamestown Heritage Republican Women.
Virginia Gazette
National Stories
Social media is becoming a problem for governments. And it's not just the inevitable hate tweet the White House account receives, or China's beef with Donald Trump's "Twitter foreign policy." Government officials have learned not to feed the trolls, but they're having a hard time getting important information to citizens, according to a WPP report released Tuesday.
CNET News
The California Supreme Court recently issued a closely split ruling in a case involving whether or not the legal bills from settled suits involving government entities within the state are public information. A member of an advocacy group wonders how the decision will affect taxpayers.
Northern California Record
Editorials/Columns
The basic expectation of public officials is that they conduct themselves in accordance with the law. However, when they prove unable to clear even that impossibly low bar, there should be a mechanism to remove the worst offenders from office so they are no longer a burden on citizens, their communities or the commonwealth. Del. Steve Heretick, a former member of the Portsmouth City Council, said this week that he intends to change state law so constitutional officers in Virginia don’t have the choice to abuse the faith citizens place in them with their votes. The proposal wouldn’t apply to other elected officials. It should. Ignoring calls from every elected official who has been asked, Burfoot instead continues to serve in an office critical to public confidence in how the city of Norfolk handles tax dollars. Every moment he stays in office undermines city government, which Burfoot has served for years, both as a member of the City Council and as vice mayor.
Virginian-Pilot
A bipartisan group of 15 lawmakers from both General Assembly chambers spoke out Tuesday against public universities they said seemed to have forgotten they are state-supported schools. At a news conference at the state Capitol, the legislators said two dozen or so bills will address issues related to transparency and access and affordability this session. The group did not coalesce behind any one piece of legislation but said the General Assembly plans a debate that is overdue.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dish Network and Gray Television reached a last-minute deal on Tuesday to avoid blacking out WHSV-TV3. Tracey Jones, WHSV’s general manager, said the companies reached the deal by the 7 p.m. deadline to continue broadcasting the station. The terms of the deal were not released.
Daily News Record
The Williamsburg-James City County School Board members passed VBSA’s code of conduct at their meeting Tuesday night — with one edit. The discussion started at the board’s Jan. 3 meeting, with Lisa Ownby (JCC Powhatan) bringing up line item nine. It reads, “I will refrain from using the board position for personal or partisan gain and avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety.” “This says to me, as a board member, that I should not hold a leadership position in a local political party, be beholden to any political party, make board decisions based on political party platforms or agendas, actively campaign as a partisan or campaign in a partisan way against other school board members,” Ownby said. Sandra Young (JCC Berkeley) said she disagrees with that line because it goes against rights granted by the first amendment. Young is also the president of a local partisan group, the Jamestown Heritage Republican Women.
Virginia Gazette
National Stories
Social media is becoming a problem for governments. And it's not just the inevitable hate tweet the White House account receives, or China's beef with Donald Trump's "Twitter foreign policy." Government officials have learned not to feed the trolls, but they're having a hard time getting important information to citizens, according to a WPP report released Tuesday.
CNET News
The California Supreme Court recently issued a closely split ruling in a case involving whether or not the legal bills from settled suits involving government entities within the state are public information. A member of an advocacy group wonders how the decision will affect taxpayers.
Northern California Record
Editorials/Columns
The basic expectation of public officials is that they conduct themselves in accordance with the law. However, when they prove unable to clear even that impossibly low bar, there should be a mechanism to remove the worst offenders from office so they are no longer a burden on citizens, their communities or the commonwealth. Del. Steve Heretick, a former member of the Portsmouth City Council, said this week that he intends to change state law so constitutional officers in Virginia don’t have the choice to abuse the faith citizens place in them with their votes. The proposal wouldn’t apply to other elected officials. It should. Ignoring calls from every elected official who has been asked, Burfoot instead continues to serve in an office critical to public confidence in how the city of Norfolk handles tax dollars. Every moment he stays in office undermines city government, which Burfoot has served for years, both as a member of the City Council and as vice mayor.
Virginian-Pilot
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