Transparency News 3/18/14
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
State and Local Stories
Newser
A separate report this week from the National Security Archives found that 54 percent of all agencies have ignored directives that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder issued in 2009 calling for a “presumption of disclosure” with FOIA requests. The good news: That number is down from about 70 percent of agencies last year. The National Security Archives also found that nearly half of all federal agencies have not updated their FOIA regulations to comply with 2007 amendments Congress made to the law. The changes require agencies to cooperate with a new FOIA ombudsman in the Office of Government Information Services and report specific data on FOIA output, among other provisions.
Washington Post
California Gov. Jerry Brown was in the final months of his first term when he signed a bill championed by law enforcement groups to limit criminal defendants’ access to peace officers’ personnel records. The measure “represents a substantial step forward in protecting the rights of law enforcement officers in this state,” then-Attorney General Evelle Younger, Brown’s Republican rival in the upcoming fall election, said in a letter urging Brown’s support. More than 35 years later, the 1978 law is part of a nearly impenetrable barrier restricting public access to law enforcement disciplinary records and civilian complaints in California. Eighty-three percent of voters backed enshrining the state’s open-records law in the Constitution a decade ago. Even so, open-records advocates say California residents today have some of the least access to law enforcement records of anywhere in the country. Bills to tighten the restrictions, pushed by politically influential law enforcement unions, routinely sail through the Legislature. Attempts to provide more disclosure have been few and unsuccessful.
Sacramento Bee
The state of Iowa has paid more than $282,000 over the past three years in secret settlement deals with six former employees, most of whom claimed their jobs were eliminated because they have Democratic ties. All were asked to sign confidentiality agreements that would have kept the settlements out of public view, according to documents obtained by The Des Moines Register and interviews with the ex-state workers. The state denies that the workers’ positions were cut as political moves, saying the jobs were eliminated as part of a reorganization that saves the state about $730,000 a year.
Des Moines Register
Edward Snowden’s revelations could make the World Wide Web a much smaller place. Efforts by 15 countries and the European Union to restrict the flow of data internationally could Balkanize chunks of the Internet, stifle innovation and make online communications less secure, according to new research.
Bloomberg
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign manager was kept informed of complaints over traffic backups near the George Washington Bridge even while lanes remained blocked, according to emails released Monday about the apparent political payback plot orchestrated by the governor’s aides. More emails involving two-time Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien were made public in a legal filing by the state legislative panel investigating the closures.
Politico
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down a state law it says violates constitutional rights to free speech by banning the documentation of animal abuse at livestock operations. The law in Idaho, which makes it illegal to take photos or videos at farms or slaughterhouses without the operators' permission, was passed last month by the Republican-led state legislature and signed by Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter. The law also makes it illegal to capture images that demonstrate the harm done to public lands by grazing livestock.
Reuters
Emily Shaw, Times-Dispatch
I can only speak for myself and not the other members of the board, but my reasoning to review the change of time for filing campaign finance reports is based on today's technology available to both candidates and the State Board of Elections and firmer legal standing after a plain reading of the statute ("The dastardly deadline," March 13 editorial). The fact that candidates missed deadlines is one of the factors I considered. However, more instructive is that the Code of Virginia specifies a day but not a time for the filer to submit reports to the SBE. For those concerned with uniformity in practice, the federal campaign finance reporting requirements are set to 11:59 p.m. In this case, the potential policy change had been discussed at a number of public meetings, and the candidate guidance document to be revised was placed on our website for public comment, similar to requirements of regulations that have the force of law.
Donald Palmer, Roanoke Times
State and Local Stories
In the mid aughts, Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann was best known as the man responsible for ‘the hockey stick graph,’ a sharply upturned curve plot, showing the rise of temperatures due to global warming. Mann’s plot became the iconic image of climate change, featured in An Inconvenient Truth and printed onto a poster-sized ledger for the report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A verdict is expected soon in one of Mann’s cases, a trial winding through the Virginia courts that, oddly, pits him against the interests of the press. Mann is challenging the American Traditions Institute in court—it has since changed its name to the less charged “Energy & Environment Legal Institute”—after the group attempted to obtain access to his email through a FOIA request. Mann argues that his emails constitute “proprietary information,” a special exemption granted to research institutions under Virginia state law. But after an appellate court issued a strong finding, broadly defining “proprietary information” in a way that would make almost any university document—and potentially government documents—exempt from public release, the press took notice. Organized by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 17 news organizations, including National Public Radio, Dow Jones, and The Washington Post, submitted an amicus brief in November, supporting the group’s rights to Mann’s emails.
National Stories
The Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests. The government's own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that half way through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite its promises from Day 1 to become the most transparent administration in history. In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government's efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office.Newser
A separate report this week from the National Security Archives found that 54 percent of all agencies have ignored directives that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder issued in 2009 calling for a “presumption of disclosure” with FOIA requests. The good news: That number is down from about 70 percent of agencies last year. The National Security Archives also found that nearly half of all federal agencies have not updated their FOIA regulations to comply with 2007 amendments Congress made to the law. The changes require agencies to cooperate with a new FOIA ombudsman in the Office of Government Information Services and report specific data on FOIA output, among other provisions.
Washington Post
California Gov. Jerry Brown was in the final months of his first term when he signed a bill championed by law enforcement groups to limit criminal defendants’ access to peace officers’ personnel records. The measure “represents a substantial step forward in protecting the rights of law enforcement officers in this state,” then-Attorney General Evelle Younger, Brown’s Republican rival in the upcoming fall election, said in a letter urging Brown’s support. More than 35 years later, the 1978 law is part of a nearly impenetrable barrier restricting public access to law enforcement disciplinary records and civilian complaints in California. Eighty-three percent of voters backed enshrining the state’s open-records law in the Constitution a decade ago. Even so, open-records advocates say California residents today have some of the least access to law enforcement records of anywhere in the country. Bills to tighten the restrictions, pushed by politically influential law enforcement unions, routinely sail through the Legislature. Attempts to provide more disclosure have been few and unsuccessful.
Sacramento Bee
The state of Iowa has paid more than $282,000 over the past three years in secret settlement deals with six former employees, most of whom claimed their jobs were eliminated because they have Democratic ties. All were asked to sign confidentiality agreements that would have kept the settlements out of public view, according to documents obtained by The Des Moines Register and interviews with the ex-state workers. The state denies that the workers’ positions were cut as political moves, saying the jobs were eliminated as part of a reorganization that saves the state about $730,000 a year.
Des Moines Register
Edward Snowden’s revelations could make the World Wide Web a much smaller place. Efforts by 15 countries and the European Union to restrict the flow of data internationally could Balkanize chunks of the Internet, stifle innovation and make online communications less secure, according to new research.
Bloomberg
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign manager was kept informed of complaints over traffic backups near the George Washington Bridge even while lanes remained blocked, according to emails released Monday about the apparent political payback plot orchestrated by the governor’s aides. More emails involving two-time Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien were made public in a legal filing by the state legislative panel investigating the closures.
Politico
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down a state law it says violates constitutional rights to free speech by banning the documentation of animal abuse at livestock operations. The law in Idaho, which makes it illegal to take photos or videos at farms or slaughterhouses without the operators' permission, was passed last month by the Republican-led state legislature and signed by Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter. The law also makes it illegal to capture images that demonstrate the harm done to public lands by grazing livestock.
Reuters
Editorials/Columns
This week is Sunshine Week, a nationwide discussion about the importance of access to public information and what it means for you and your community. During this week we pay special attention to our collective obligation to bring some “sunshine” to the often shadowy processes of government decision-making. Different governments have different ways of inhibiting effective oversight of government decision-making, from intentional stonewalling and secrecy to budget-driven decisions to reduce hours and staffing. These problems, while diverse, might have a similar solution: Public records and the content of public meetings should be considered public data, and accessible to anyone who wants it, including electronically.Emily Shaw, Times-Dispatch
I can only speak for myself and not the other members of the board, but my reasoning to review the change of time for filing campaign finance reports is based on today's technology available to both candidates and the State Board of Elections and firmer legal standing after a plain reading of the statute ("The dastardly deadline," March 13 editorial). The fact that candidates missed deadlines is one of the factors I considered. However, more instructive is that the Code of Virginia specifies a day but not a time for the filer to submit reports to the SBE. For those concerned with uniformity in practice, the federal campaign finance reporting requirements are set to 11:59 p.m. In this case, the potential policy change had been discussed at a number of public meetings, and the candidate guidance document to be revised was placed on our website for public comment, similar to requirements of regulations that have the force of law.
Donald Palmer, Roanoke Times
Categories:
