Transparency News 7/1/16

State and Local Stories

The current version of FOIA is now on VCOG’s website. The changes made by the 2016 General Assembly are highlighted. Take note that there are A LOT of highlights, but this primarily due to the fact that the legislation to undo the Supreme Court’s ruling on redaction — the legislation makes absolutely clearly that there IS a duty to redact — required fixes throughout the entire act.
VCOG website

Rising tension between management of the Richmond Retirement System and its investment advisory committee erupted into a public battle Thursday as the board of trustees for the city employee pension system ousted one committee member and then narrowly balked at removing a second member — both of them investment professionals of long standing. The turmoil at the top of the $540 million retirement system intensified after the board voted 4-1 to remove Basil L. “Beau” Hurst III from the committee, which traditionally has helped direct and manage investments that are crucial to the long-term funding of the pension system serving nearly 10,000 city employees and retirees. An attempt to remove Donald A. Steinbrugge failed for lack of a second, but he and Michael Hultzapple, another long-time investment professional on the committee, have threatened to resign if Hurst was removed for what they said was exposing improper conduct by the system’s executive director in blocking information to the panel and diminishing its role.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

State Sen. Bryce Reeves, R—Spotsylvania County, is out to prove that Gov. Terry McAuliffe was acting on a request from Hillary Clinton’s campaign when he restored voting rights to more than 200,000 former felons. But the senator’s Freedom of Information Act request June 17 for any communication on the topic between the two camps turned up no smoking gun. McAuliffe, a Democrat, is close friends with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Carlos Hopkins, counsel to the governor, responded to Reeves last Wednesday, writing that there are no records indicating that Clinton officials requested the restoration of rights. The Clinton campaign did contact McAuliffe officials after the governor announced his order giving about 206,000 ex-felons the ability to vote, he continued. Hopkins said the Clinton team had questions about the order, but he did not say what those questions were. Still, Reeves is continuing to press his case, calling the correspondence “suspect” in a news release this week that included the emails. 
Free Lance-Star

Appointing a temporary Prince William County School Board member to fill in for Gil Trenum, who is preparing for a yearlong military deployment to Africa, just got a little more complicated. School Board Chairman Ryan Sawyers said Thursday he wants to ask Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) for an opinion about how to proceed. The problem, Sawyers said, is that while state law bars elected officials from being replaced against their will while called to military duty, the law does not describe a process for appointing a temporary replacement if the official requests one. And that’s exactly what Trenum, a commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves, asked the board to do last week when he submitted the names of three possible replacements to cast votes for him while he is away.
Inside NOVA


National Stories
​

President Barack Obama yesterday signed a bill that significantly reforms and improves access to public records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The signing marked the culmination of open government advocates' battle to reform part of FOIA ahead of the law's 50th anniversary on July 4th. One of the most notable provisions is the law's mandate for agencies to operate from a presumption of openness, ensuring that information is withheld only under one of FOIA's nine exemptions. The bill codifies Obama's 2009 memorandum sent on his first day in office — which ordered federal departments to operate under this presumption. The law also paves the way for the creation of a single online portal to accept FOIA requests for any agency, similar to FOIAonline, already in use by 12 agencies and offices. The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) will also be strengthened with the reforms, permitting it to make recommendations for improving FOIA without necessarily seeking input from other agencies.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case. The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable. Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the F.B.I. was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case — one that could influence a presidential election.
New York Times

Cleveland and the ACLU of Ohio reached agreement Wednesday on easing some restrictions on marches, speeches and protests during the Republican National Convention next month. The biggest change in convention-related regulations -- the subject of a federal lawsuit by the ACLU -- is a major reduction in the size of the "Event Zone" surrounding Quicken Loans Arena, where the convention will be held July 18-21. The zone, in which marches without permits, electronically amplified speeches and certain items are banned, was reduced in the settlement from 3.3 square miles to about 1.7 square miles. Additionally, the agreement alters the official parade route to increase the visibility of demonstrators participating in marches and allows for three more parade permits to be issued by the city, for a total of 21 during the four-day convention.
Governing


Editorials/Columns

To their great credit, legislators took steps to expand the access of the public and news media to information about FOIA itself. Beginning today, all state public bodies and all local public bodies subject to FOIA in counties, cities and towns of more than 250 residents must designate a local FOIA officer and prominently post on their government websites their rights and responsibilities under the act. Sen. Scott Surovell, a Northern Virginia Democrat, and Del. Jim LeMunyon, a Northern Virginia Republican, teamed up to close a potentially huge loophole at the heart of Virginia’s FOIA. Bills the pair introduced require the release of as much of a public document as possible under FOIA, with redaction of exempted information. Though government had been operating under this presumption for years, a September 2015 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court declared government agencies and bodies could instead withhold an entire document, if just part of it was exempt. Surovell and LeMunyon deserve the thanks of all Virginians who care about good government and transparency. On the question of capital punishment and transparency, though, the Assembly and Gov. McAuliffe miserably failed, despite the best efforts of Surovell and LeMunyon.
News & Advance