The Oklahoma Supreme Court has removed language that was critical of the state attorney general’s office in an Open Records Act case involving communications between then-Attorney General Scott Pruitt and major energy companies as well as the Republican Attorney General’s Association. The court ruled Monday that the trial judge’s characterization of the office as an “abject failure” in complying with the law was “surplus and unnecessary.” The wording is in a 2017 ruling that ordered the attorney general’s office to provide the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy with the records it had requested in 2015 involving Pruitt, who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency.
U.S. News & World Report
The West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of the First Amendment to completely restrict a person’s access to the internetas a condition of their parole from prison, and that such restrictions must be tailored based on the nature of a person’s crime. The justices ruled it was unconstitutional for the West Virginia Parole Board to revoke a man’s parole because his girlfriend had a computer with internet access, even though he didn’t use the computer, Justice Menis Ketchum wrote in the court’s opinion handed down March 12.
Governing
All of the recent sexual harassment controversies surrounding Springfield (Illinois) lawmakers and House Speaker Michael Madigan have come to light without the aid of a significant transparency tool: the Freedom of Information Act. Illinois’ FOIA laws had been criticized as having too many exemptions and no real recourse for a government denial of a request. They became stronger in 2010. They now include civil penalties of up to $5,000, but they’re rarely applied and many other loopholes remain. One glaring exception from these transparency laws is for the lawmakers who wrote them.
Illinois News Network
The Montana Legislature is replacing its current email system with one that is expected to make it easier to comply with open records requests. The new email has an automatic archive system that will retain legislators’ emails for five years after their terms end to comply with state law, the Missoulian reports. Lee Newspapers of Montana reported in January 2017 that state employee emails were not being stored in the state archives. Todd Everts, legal director of the state’s Legislative Services Division, noted a lawsuit was filed against the division and Republican Sen. Jennifer Fielder a year ago by the ethics group Campaign for Accountability, after the division and Fielder failed to release records that had been requested.
The Kansas City Star
It’s been a big year for free speech at the Supreme Court. Two of the most high-profile cases argued before the court so far have revolved around free speech rights, four other cases on the docket this term involve free speech questions, and yet another case where the issue is paramount greets the court on Tuesday. The court today is hearing arguments on whether the state of California is trampling on the free speech rights of crisis pregnancy centers — nonprofit organizations that do not perform abortions and encourage women to seek alternatives to the procedure — by requiring them to post notices explaining patients’ ability to access abortion and other medical services.
FiveThirtyEight
Arlington suggested critics of the county’s refusal to turn over its Amazon headquarters proposal should go to Richmond to push for more transparency there.
All of the recent sexual harassment controversies surrounding Illinois lawmakers have come to light with the aid of a significant transparency tool: the Freedom of Information Act.
“We want the General Assembly to lean toward an espousing principle as it crafts legislation: Open and transparent government is good government.”