Transparency News 4/21/16

Transparency News will be out of state tomorrow (Friday) and Monday. We will return Tuesday, April 26.

State and Local Stories

The Virginia House has reversed itself, voting yesterday evening to accept Gov. Terry McAuliffe's proposal to ensure secrecy in state lethal injection procedures after first rejecting the legislation. The House voted 59-40 to accept the governor's proposal. Initially it rejected this 47-51. Republican leaders scrambled for a re-vote. McAuliffe had promised that, without approval for his amendment, he would veto the underlying bill allowing the state to use the electric chair when lethal injection drugs aren't available.
Daily Press

Pharmacies that supply Virginia with lethal injection drugs soon will be shielded from public scrutiny after the General Assembly voted Wednesday to accept a proposal from Gov. Terry McAuliffe to exempt such contractors from open-records laws and state regulations. “If this becomes law, the commonwealth of Virginia ... the legislature, our citizens, would be more certain about the chemical composition of the asphalt that VDOT buys to put on our roads than we would about the drugs that we put in the veins of someone we want to execute,” said Del. James M. LeMunyon, R-Fairfax. “This bill will shield one little part of our government from transparency,” said Sen. Scott A. Surovell, D-Fairfax. “Mistakes happen the most when we put a shadow over things.”  Some lawmakers were skeptical of the argument that the death penalty would come to a halt without the secrecy provision, which would allow the state to shield the identities of pharmacies and compounding facilities producing drugs for the state. Del. Marcus B. Simon, D-Fairfax, said the Department of Corrections is free to study alternative drug protocols and acquire drugs as it has in the past. “They can still do it,” Simon said. “They just can’t do it in secret.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch

For nearly a week, Virginia Beach school division officials have repeated a two-word phrase as grounds to refrain from publicly explaining the sudden absence of Landstown High School’s principal: personnel matter. But legal experts and open government advocates say the state’s open records law gives public agencies wide discretion to release information on employees. “Anyone who says we have to withhold something because it’s a ‘personnel matter’ is incorrect,” said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. “People need to know that this is a choice public agencies make and that they deserve to know why.”
Virginian-Pilot

The Norfolk School Board on Wednesday delayed until June a vote on a public comment policy that would have limited what speakers can say at meetings. The board will revise the policy in light of an advisory opinion by Attorney General Mark Herring on Friday that said “blanket prohibitions” on personnel and student concerns are unconstitutional. Herring’s opinion follows a request by state Del. Richard Morris to review whether public comment rules of the Franklin City School Board violate free speech rights.  The Norfolk board had planned to vote on the proposed policy that retained certain speech restrictions. Board Chairman Rodney Jordan said members learned of the opinion on Monday and asked the City Attorney’s Office to review it. It didn’t review revisions until Wednesday’s meeting.
Virginian-Pilot



National Stories
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Bristol Tennessee Essential Services CEO Mike Browder apologized to the city-owned utility’s board Wednesday for not keeping members as informed as he should concerning his work with a private vendor. “It’s always been my intention for the board to have all the information they want,” Browder said. “I have really good 20/20 hindsight — I don’t want the board or the City Council to have rough points because of the way it appears of what we did or didn’t do.” It was the first meeting of the board since a Tennessee comptroller’s report released April 13 said Browder did not disclose to the board that he has co-ownership of a patent for a water heater load management switch made by Carina Technologies. The comptroller’s office called it a conflict of interest and said Browder used $6.8 million in public money to develop and manufacture the device and prop up a financially struggling company.
Herald Courier

The public has a right to government records in electronic format when seeking information under the state’s Right-to-Know law, the New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday.  The case stems from an appeal by Donna Green of Sandown, who has represented that town on the Timberlane Regional School Board since 2014, and had to sue the school district to gain access to salary information in electronic format. Green’s requested district budget spreadsheets in digital format be provided by email, citing the state’s Right-to-Know law, and was refused. udge David Anderson sided with the district, noting that the Right-to-Know law gives public officials a choice of whether to produce the documents in electronic or conventional format.  In reversing that decision, the state Supreme Court concluded that the Right-to-Know statute, RSA 91-A, is “ambiguous” on how public records must be provided.  “We therefore look to the purpose of the Right-to-Know law, which is to increase public access to all public documents and governmental proceedings, and to provide the utmost information to the public about what its government is up to,” wrote Associate Justice James P. Basset.
Union Leader

The Indiana Supreme Court Tuesday ruled it will not force Indiana lawmakers to release their emails under the state’s public records law. The Court says to do so would violate the state constitution’s separation of powers. Citizen advocacy groups, including the Citizens Action Coalition, filed a lawsuit to gain access to emails between a House Republican legislator and utility companies. In a 4-1 decision, State Supreme Court Justice Steven David writes that for the Court to define work product and force lawmakers to disclose their emails would interfere with internal legislative procedures and violate separation of powers. 
WBAA