Transparency News, 3/30/20

 

Virginia lawmakers are due back in Richmond next month for a one-day session scheduled to wrap up their work, but it’s being recast as an opportunity for Gov. Ralph Northam and state lawmakers to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on Virginians. Lawmakers will likely need to perform triage on the state’s budget due to expected drops in state revenue with the economy crippled. At the same time, many lawmakers are eyeing legislation that could be delayed or amended to meet the needs of the moment. Convening in the time of COVID-19 could force the legislature to alter where and how they meet to ensure that the disease does not spread among lawmakers, staff, journalists and visitors. The Virginia Constitution could allow the General Assembly to meet in a different location, and two House lawmakers familiar with the discussions said ongoing conversations include the possibility of meeting in a larger space, like the Richmond Convention Center or VCU’s Siegel Center.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

On Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam ordered hospitals to cease non-urgent surgeries and made a call out to all medical professionals — from students to retirees — to volunteer for the state’s Medical Reserve Corps to relieve anticipated medical staffing shortages. The state is also working with the Army Corps of Engineers to identify sites for building up hospital capacity. It’s all part of an effort to keep Virginia’s health care system from being overrun by COVID-19 patients like New York City and Italy before it. And while state officials say they are planning and encouraging social distancing to prevent the worst-case scenario, they have kept those plans mostly under wraps as some projections anticipate a shortage of intensive care beds, tens of thousands of sickened Virginians needing hospitalization and a climbing death toll in the coming months.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and county authorities now may meet virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic without having to have a quorum in the same physical space. At a special meeting Friday morning, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors passed an emergency ordinance to ensure continuity of government, and outlined procedures for public meetings, deadlines and succession, among other things. The change allows legislative bodies and county authorities to meet virtually. For the time being, the change does not apply to advisory bodies. That could change if public gatherings are still restricted in May, county spokeswoman Emily Kilroy said. “The meetings will need to be open for public participation, and that may evolve over time as our technology gets put into place,” County Attorney Greg Kamptner said. The 13-page Albemarle County emergency ordinance, which is modeled after one put together by members of Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, Inc., outlines essential governmental functions from 14 county offices and departments. The board approved removing the general public comment agenda item during the COVID-19 pandemic, which usually allows time for people to speak about topics that are not already on the agenda for a public hearing. “Certainly the public would be free to communicate by email and other means to the board,” Kamptner said. He said board members could read emails from the public out loud at the end of the meeting. The board is piloting eComment at its April 1 meeting, which will allow people to provide public comments on upcoming agenda items online.
The Daily Progress

At a special meeting March 24,the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved an emergency ordinance allowing meetings of the Board, the planning commission, and other commissions, authorities, or public bodies to be conducted electronically, according to a news release from Interim Orange County Administrator Brenda Garton. This action ensures continuity of operations for Orange County during the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to observe social distancing guidelines. More guidance on how meetings will be handled will be included as each meeting is announced.
Culpeper Star-Exponent

Patrick Henry Community College completed a WiFi expansion to convert three of its parking lots into hot spots to assist students’ ability to connect to their online coursework. Officials on Wednesday closed buildings on the campus to the public, and workers began to install equipment to ensure all students would have a way to access the internet. Now, students or staff members who have no home internet can come to the campus and can work from their cars, a release from the school said.
Martinsville Bulletin

 

As the coronavirus spreads across the United States the limited disclosure of data by officials would seem to be a footnote to the suffering and economic disruptions that the disease is causing. But medical experts say that how much the public should know has become a critical question that will help determine how the United States confronts this outbreak and future ones. Residents are clamoring to see whether the virus has been detected in their neighborhoods so they can take more steps to avoid any contact. American researchers are starved for data, unlike their colleagues in other countries who are harnessing rivers of information from their more centralized medical systems. And local politicians complain that they cannot provide basic information on the spread of the virus to their constituents. In the perennial tug-of-war between privacy and transparency in the United States, privacy appears to be winning in the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York Times

The State Department’s processing of records for public release under the federal government’s best-known transparency law—the Freedom of Information Act—has ground to a virtual halt due to work changes aimed at quelling the coronavirus pandemic, according to an agency official. State Department official Eric Stein said in a formal court declaration this week that the unusual system the agency relies upon for line-by-line review of requested documents has been hit hard by the shift to telework as a means of reducing the number of people in federal offices.
Politico

Details of a settlement between a Louisiana sheriff’s office and the daughter of a man who died in its custody must be made public, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled. The underlying case was brought after Victor White III died of a gunshot through the chest while he was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car in 2014. The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office claimed that White shot himself, but a lawsuit filed on behalf of White’s daughter, a minor, claimed that White was killed by sheriff’s deputies. The two parties ultimately agreed to a settlement in March 2018. No written settlement agreement was filed with the district court, but the parties read the settlement terms, including the settlement amount, into the district court’s record at a post-conference meeting. The sheriff’s office and White’s daughter agreed to keep the terms of that settlement confidential, despite the fact that any money awarded would be paid using tax dollars. After an unsuccessful public records request, TV news station KATC and one of the state’s largest daily newspapers, The Advocate, sought to unseal court records detailing the settlement, but the district court denied their motion. The district court discounted the public interest in access to details of the settlement, considering only what it called “the media’s interest in releasing a sensational story regarding the amount of money paid to resolve the lawsuit without knowing anything about how the decisions were ultimately reached in the parties’ settlement negotiations.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Here’s some advice for Iowa’s elected officials and government employees, courtesy of the Iowa Public Information Board's director: Uninstall Snapchat from your cell phones. Programs that automatically delete communications are not expressively prohibited under Iowa law, but there are situations when deleting certain messages could be illegal, according to a proposed advisory opinion from public information board Director Margaret Johnson. To avoid trouble, it’s best for government leaders to refrain from using the apps, Johnson said in the advisory that her board will consider April 16.
Des Moines Register
 

 

After his live-stream update to Virginians on Wednesday afternoon on the coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam returned to his office on the third floor of the Patrick Henry Building to meet with his policy staff on legislation sent him by the General Assembly. Two members of the staff, Carter Hutchinson and Connor Andrews, were waiting for Northam — not in the conference room with its view of Old City Hall, but about two miles away, in their Fan District apartment, where they have been vetting bills, using a ping-pong table as a desk and a laundry hamper as a computer stand. Hutchinson, Andrews and their three colleagues in the policy shop — along with thousands of other state employees — have been working remotely for about two weeks because of the pandemic.
Jeff Schapiro, Richmond Times-Dispatch