At the end of every year, state agencies, boards and commissions churn out dozens of annual reports. Last year, one notable document was missing. The annual report from the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission would normally have been published at the end of November. The JIRC’s 2024 report was a rich text: for the first time, it contained the names and misdeeds of Virginia judges who were disciplined by the seven-member commission for violating the commonwealth’s judicial cannons. The change was the result of a 2023 law sponsored by Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick, which passed with bipartisan support and backing from outgoing Attorney General Jason Miyares. That brief window of transparency shut last year, when lawmakers unanimously passed a bill specifying they would be the first ones to see JIRC’s annual report — and decide if it’s ever made public. The change means the public won’t know the names and misconduct of errant judges in their community in 2025 unless lawmakers decide to release it. … “The whole idea was — especially in unfounded cases — a lot of information that’s available under the FOIA law right now is information that might not be accurate and may be defamatory toward a judicial officer,” Sen. Creigh Deeds said in a February committee meeting, referring to the Freedom of Information Act. But Deeds’ statement doesn’t align with what’s in the reports. Under the rules of the 2023 law, the outcomes of “unfounded cases” are not published in the JIRC’s annual report — only a much smaller number of cases where judges were disciplined for violating the cannons.

Public comments submitted to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority about the Shenandoah Valley’s dormant rail corridor leaned heavily toward calls to delay action and pursue a trail-only conversion, records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show, even as prominent businesses and industry groups backed a proposal to shift the corridor to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to pursue a rail-with-trail plan. The comment file includes 1,356 emailed submissions sent to VPRA after state transportation leaders outlined a proposal to shift the project away from the Virginia Department of Transportation and partner with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to acquire the roughly 49-mile Norfolk Southern rail corridor from Broadway to Front Royal and develop a recreational trail while preserving rail infrastructure for possible future service.

When state Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, talks about Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, she often does so from experience — both as a former journalist and as a lawmaker who says she has repeatedly seen the law used to discourage public access rather than promote it. Since her first year in office in 2018, Roem has made FOIA reform a legislative priority, reintroducing the same core proposal multiple times. Earlier this year, that effort nearly paid off, with her bill advancing further than ever before before ultimately dying late in the House. Now, Roem is trying again. She has reintroduced Senate Bill 56 for the 2026 General Assembly session, which is set to begin next week, reviving an effort to tighten limits on how much state and local governments can charge for public records and to clarify how agencies seek court relief when responding to large or complex requests. The proposal, which earned bipartisan support during the 2025 session, at the time passed the Senate, cleared a House committee and reached the House floor before being sent back to committee on a procedural vote after committees had stopped meeting, effectively killing the bill. “It’s the same bill, different year,” Roem said in an interview with the Virginia Mercury.

The city of Lynchburg operates a government that prides itself on citizen engagement, with most meetings open to residents who can attend in person or watch online. Whether it’s city council or school board meetings, Lynchburg typically has an open-door policy. Residents also can get involved with the local government by applying to serve on the city’s many boards and commissions. Along with simply watching meetings, Lynchburg residents are given numerous opportunities to express their views on topics of their choice, with fewer restrictions than in other jurisdictions in Virginia. A rare exception was when Mayor Larry Taylor canceled the final city council meeting of 2025, where several people had signed up to speak during public comment. The mayor did not provide a reason for canceling the meeting.

Unfortunately, in too many counties and towns, this principle is quietly eroding. The erosion doesn’t come from dramatic corruption or overt secrecy. It often comes in the form of excessive reliance on the town or county attorney—a slow drift of responsibility from elected representatives to legal counsel. The concern isn’t about the importance of legal advice. Every legislative body needs guidance on what is permissible, defensible, and wise. But we cross a dangerous line when legal analysis—especially regarding public policy—is treated as confidential by default rather than public by design. … Let’s be clear: when the public is denied access to the legal reasoning behind proposed laws, it’s not protection, it’s paternalism. And it fundamentally undermines democracy.

As the old year was exiting exhausted, a columnist for the sports business publication Sportico dubbed 2025 the Year of the College Sports FOIA Request. Daniel Libit kicked off his case by citing a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the young woman who has made a laughingstock of UNC football coach Bill Belichick — and with him my alma mater — apparently hoping to make the case that UNC’s PR department hasn’t been protective enough of her man. … This new era of paid amateur athletics of course is the driving force behind the FOI bowl. … Mr. Libit from Sportico concluded his column by noting that “The forces of opacity are always strong, and as the year draws to a close, I worry that the future of college sports is becoming needlessly — and deliberately — obscure, especially as schools build out new (ostensibly separate) legal entities to support novel forms of athletic investment.”