Transparency News 9/16/16

 

The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday firmed up a legislative privilege that allows General Assembly members, and people who work with them, to keep documents secret. The decision saves four state senators, and two former ones, from contempt of court fines that had been mounting in the case since April. It also makes clear that this privilege, which stems from a state constitution clause protecting legislators from harassment during session, can be invoked not just by a state legislator, but by staff and outside consultants, so long as they're working on legitimate legislative business. "Provided the legislator has requested the constituent or third party's assistance in the performance of a legislative act, the privilege applies to that individual as much as to any other alter ego," Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons wrote for a unanimous court. "It would be of little use to protect acts regarding the drafting of a bill when performed by a legislator but not an agent at the legislator's direction."
Daily Press

In the final appeal hearing of a Freedom of Information Act case that was first heard in June 2015, Judge James Reynolds ordered a writ of mandamus into effect for the Agriculture Development Board. The ag board must keep and produce minutes publically for every meeting is holds for the next 18 months, with a possibility of rescinding the order at that time. The board was technically exempt from needing to take minutes, but if minutes were taken, they would become public record — and must be published, according to Virginia law.
Register & Bee

At least two members of the General Assembly still have doubts about the University of Virginia’s $2.3 billion Strategic Investment Fund. Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, and Sen. William R. DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, still have questions about the way the money is being used and the level of transparency of the board’s business. DeSteph  repeated allegations that the board violated open-meetings law when it met in closed session to discuss the Strategic Investment Fund, an allegation that Rector William H. Goodwin has denied. On Thursday, one UVa official complained that the controversy had cost the university’s School of Medicine two high-impact faculty recruits. After the meeting, Dr. Richard Shannon said he thinks poor reporting by the press also was to blame.
Daily Progress



National Stories
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A Dane County, Wisconsin, judge on Monday ruled a state commission violated the open records law last year when it refused to quickly turn over information about a union election. "I just find that (this case) is a violation of the open records law. I do believe it is appropriate for this court to enter a declaration to that effect," Dane County Circuit Judge Peter Anderson said.  He called the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission's decision not to release records to a Madison teachers union "pretextual," "thin on consistency" and an apparent attempt to make it harder for the union to retain its ability to negotiate over wages. Commission officials said they would appeal.
Governing

The Vermont Secretary of State's Office says a quorum of public officials participating in social media like Facebook groups, Front Porch Forum or other online groups brings up open meeting law concerns. The guidance on social media use was included in the office's annual update to the state open meeting law released last week. Vermont's open meeting law does not explicitly mention social media, Secretary of State Jim Condos said. "One problem is the laws never catch up with technology." Condos said his office has been getting more and more calls from municipal bodies asking whether it's okay for officials to participate in social media.
Burlington Free Press

There was a changing of the guard at the world’s largest library. Carla Hayden, who holds a doctorate from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago, took her place in history Wednesday, becoming the 14th Librarian of Congress since the position was created by Thomas Jefferson in 1802. She’s the first woman and first African-American to hold the position. “As a descendent of people who were denied the right to read, to now have the opportunity to serve and lead the institution that is the national symbol of knowledge is a historic moment,” Hayden said during her swearing-in ceremony.
CBS News

D.C. police will be required to confirm to dispatchers that they have turned on their body cameras when they respond to a call or interact with citizens, a change ordered Wednesday after a fatal police shooting in which a camera was not activated until after the incident, city officials said.
Governing

Officials at the Internal Revenue Service withheld excessive amounts of information in more than 11 percent of responses to Freedom of Information Act requests this year, according to the agency's watchdog. A report made public Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration also discovered that the IRS accidentally disclosed personal information, such as bank account numbers or credit scores, in a small number of responses. Among the 60 cases sampled by the tax watchdog, seven "included improperly withheld information related to the taxpayers' own cases with the IRS." Requesters in those instances received documents from the IRS on which their own bank statements and tax returns were redacted.
Washington Examiner

According to computer science lore, a computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson sent the first email message "sometime in late 1971," meaning the now ubiquitous communication system is celebrating its 45th birthday around now. What better time to recount some of the political nightmares that email has created for politicians of both parties. Here are some of the email-related political scandals that you may have forgotten under the storm of controversy over Hillary Clinton's exclusive use of a private email system while she was secretary of State.
USA Today

Should police departments operated by private universities in Indiana be subject to the same open records requirements that apply to state, county and municipal police agencies? The five justices of the Indiana Supreme Court wrestled with that question during 45 minutes of oral arguments Tuesday as the University of Notre Dame urged the high court to continue allowing it to keep secret all campus police records, especially those pertaining to student athletes.
The Times of Northwest Indiana

The FBI did not break rules in place in 2007 when it impersonated a journalist to send a teenage bomb-threat suspect a computer link to a fake news article that concealed location tracking software, a government watchdog said on Thursday. But the undercover activity would only be permissible today with a series of high-ranking approvals stipulated in interim policy guidelines enacted in June this year, the Department of Justice's office of the inspector general found.
Reuters

The Oregon Department of Justice has overturned a 14-year-old rule requiring some state agencies to charge for public records. The ruling was sparked by the Statesman Journal's appeal of a decision by the Public Employees Retirement System to charge full price for release of public records. PERS asked for $112 to produce the 2015 travel receipts of the retirement system's director and board members. When the newspaper's request to waive those fees was denied, it appealed to the DOJ. Deputy Attorney General Frederick Boss penned Monday's ruling, saying that a 2002 department opinion allowing PERS to always charge full price for public records is no longer valid. Boss ordered PERS to reconsider the Statesman Journal's fee waiver request.
Statesman Journal