Transparency News 5/10/17

Wednesday, May 10, 2017


State and Local Stories

Government agencies' denials for public records are a common experience among those requesting access. Shelley Kimball, the editor of Truth in the Field, and Robert Holloway, an open government activist in York County, Virginia discussed what it is like to be denied access and how best to respond.
Truth in the Field Blog, Virginia Coalition for Open Government

When a city of 90,000 has 180,000 followers on Facebook, it's doing something right. Roanoke, Va., is that city.
Governing

When Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, announced his retirement from the House of Delegates last month, he ended by dropping his desk microphone with a classic quip: “Dave Albo, out.” But Albo is coming back — as a lobbyist. Williams Mullen, an influential Richmond-based law firm, announced Tuesday that it had hired the 24-year House veteran — who chairs the House Courts of Justice Committee — to join its law and lobbying practice. Albo plans to vacate his seat after his successor is elected in November. Under state law, Albo won’t be able to lobby the General Assembly for a year after he gives up his seat in the 42nd House District in November. Instead, he will join Williams Mullen’s litigation practice as a criminal defense lawyer, as he has done for 29 years in private practice at Albo & Oblon. He will work at the firm’s office in Tysons Corner — part of Fairfax County. Albo also will be able to lobby the governor’s office and executive branch agencies, including the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which will become an authority next year under legislation he sponsored in the House.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Tempers flared and accusations flew Tuesday as some Shenandoah County supervisors revived the debate over who leads their board. District 6 Supervisor Conrad Helsley remains the chairman though the board has yet to elect the lead officer for 2017. District 3 Supervisor Richard Walker serves as vice chairman. Supervisors voted earlier this year at the end of a budget work session with the School Board, and with Helsley absent, to elect Walker as chairman. County Attorney Jason Ham later advised members that the 3-2 vote was not legal because it took place in a work session, not a regular meeting. Walker said in a subsequent meeting he would not stand in the way of Helsley continuing to serve as chairman as the board deliberated on the county budget. But the matter didn’t die then. Earlier in the Tuesday meeting, the board entered into closed session to discuss legal matters with Ham, including the issue of who serves as chairman – Helsley or Walker. 
Northern Virginia Daily

National Stories

In a groundbreaking decision, an Illinois appellate court Tuesday ruled the College of DuPage Foundation is subject to the state's open records law and ordered that it turn over a federal subpoena the Tribune requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The unanimous decision — which upholds an earlier ruling by DuPage Circuit Judge Robert Gibson — marks the first time an Illinois higher court has ruled in favor of releasing records in the possession of a public college's fundraising organization. The decision could have broader implications for public bodies that outsource responsibilities to non-government agencies.
Chicago Tribune

Crucial details about the location and depth of certain California water wells can be kept secret, and out of the hands of an environmental group, a top federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Although targeting a specific request for California information, the ruling by what’s sometimes called the nation’s second-highest court could shape at least a few of the other Freedom of Information Act requests nationwide. More than 700,000 FOIA requests were filed in Fiscal 2014, and the question of what can be denied recurs often. Tuesday’s unanimous decision lumped water wells with those drilled for oil and gas production. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the water well information fits under a long-standing exemption to FOIA. The decision thwarted AquAlliance, the Chico, Calif.-based group that sought the information.
Miami Herald

Tuesday morning is a significant moment in the long history of making the spending of the United States government more transparent to the American public. On May 9th, federal agencies will officially begin reporting data in compliance with the open standards created under the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, the landmark legislation that cleared Congress in 2014. (It’s called the DATA Act, for short, which is how we refer to it today.) The data will start flowing to beta.usaspending.gov in the coming days and will eventually be transitioned to USAspending.gov, the long term online home of federal spending data. (Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner was a co-sponsor of the bill, along with Republican Rob Portman of Ohio.)
Sunlight Foundation