Transparency News 4/29/16

State and Local Stories

At its upcoming May 4 meeting, the FOIA Council plans to consider and act on several drafts that have been recommended by the Records and Meetings Subcommittees as part of the three-year FOIA study directed by House Joint Resolution No. 96 (2014).  Those drafts are posted on the Council website Meeting Schedule page at http://foiacouncil.dls.virginia.gov/meetings.htm.  As decided previously, after the conclusion of the study this year, the Council intends to recommend omnibus legislation to the 2017 Session of the General Assembly.  Individual recommendations for amendments to FOIA will be incorporated into the final omnibus legislation.  Due to the large number of drafts, the council is asking that you please read them and prepare any comments or suggestions in advance.

The City of Portsmouth has destroyed at least 370 curbside trash cans’ worth of documents this fiscal year, and no one knows what was in the vast majority of them. The mystery comes from Portsmouth’s frequent practice of shredding documents without submitting certificates of destruction, as required by state law. Experts say that improperly destroying public records not only costs governments institutional knowledge but denies residents access to information that could help them hold officials accountable. What’s more, it might force agencies to redo work, said Quentin Kidd, a professor at Christopher Newport University.
Virginian-Pilot

The Center for Public Integrity will ask the Virginia Supreme Court to make public auto title lending reports that show financial details such as how much interest the businesses charge on loans and how often they repossess cars. Last month, the Virginia State Corporation Commission, which oversees financial institutions in the commonwealth, ruled that the annual reports lenders file with the state should be released to the public. The commission said it’s not clear under state law if corporations enjoy the same privacy rights as people when it comes to the disclosure of financial information and directed its staff to seek clarification of the law from the General Assembly next year. Erin Witte, who is representing the Center for Public Integrity pro bono, filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday. The appeal goes to the Virginia Supreme Court. No date has been set for oral arguments.
Center for Public Integrity

The Supreme Court of Virginia has accepted a portion of an ongoing redistricting case, saying it will mull what correspondence legislators must release about their work drawing election maps, and what they may keep secret. The question is a key one before a lawsuit that targets nearly a dozen legislative districts over state constitutional concerns can move forward, but the high court's decision could also set precedent when it comes to the release of legislative documents in court cases. Both sides – redistricting advocates connected to a group called OneVirginia2021 and state senators looking to protect emails under a legislative immunity clause in the Virginia Constitution – asked for the state Supreme Court to hear the matter. The broader case sits in City of Richmond Circuit Court.
Daily Press

At an April 4 public meeting organized by Hanover County that took place at Patrick Henry High School (PHHS), Hanover residents listened to an informational presentation by Emily Stock, Manager of Rail Planning for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).   The meeting followed an outcry of public confusion regarding the status of the high-speed rail (known as DC2RVA rail) that’s proposed to be built to connect Washington, D.C. to Richmond, Virginia. During her presentation at the public meeting, Stock mentioned that comments made to DC2RVA would only be entered into the study when they are made during the “comment period.” The study she was referring to is called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Stocks’ directions for submitting comments raise the question; what happens to comments made outside of this period?
Herald-Progress



National Stories
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U.S. anti-gun-violence activists on Wednesday introduced a phone app designed to strip notorious mass shooters' names and photos from news stories, saying that keeping their images out of the public eye could help avert future mass killings. The Brady Campaign said the software, called "Zero Minutes of Fame" is intended to address research that shows gunmen who carried out attacks in recent years at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, and at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, had researched and possibly drawn inspiration from prior mass shootings.
Reuters