Penalties needed for violations of Open Meetings Act, citizens say
From the Baltimore Post-Examiner:read more
View ArticleMaryland public records ruling could let more sunshine in
From The Baltimore Sun: The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled recently that state police personnel files are not completely off-limits under the Maryland Public Information Act, a finding that could...
View ArticleIt's Sunshine Week
Opinion from myEasternShore.com: Government is big business, probably the biggest business in the nation. Just as businesses are beholden to stockholders, the government is beholden to its stakeholders...
View ArticleAccidentally released text messages give peek at O'Malley discussions
From The Baltimore Sun: The text messages were pinging to and from Gov. Martin O'Malley's BlackBerry. It was the latter part of October, and Election Day was just around the corner. [...]read more
View ArticleNFOIC supports newspaper in legal action
Press release from NFOIC: COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 9, 2013) – A small daily newspaper has been awarded a $12,500 litigation grant from the Knight FOI Fund after being rebuffed and stonewalled for months in...
View ArticleSeeing like a citizen: How activists are making state laws legible
From Tech President: The Open Government Foundation announced Friday that it had released MarylandCode.org, a web-friendly and restriction free publication of the Maryland Code of Public Laws.read more
View ArticleOpen government organization provides grant to fight county petition
From Carroll County Times: A nonpartisan organization dedicated to the freedom of information has awarded the Carroll County Times a $12,500 grant to help cover litigation costs to fight a petition...
View ArticleNFOIC's State FOIA Friday for September 13, 2013
From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to...
View ArticleCoalition joins others calling on D.C. Council to reject mayor's proposal to...
DCOGC President Kevin Goldberg testified to the D.C. legislature Wednesday this week on the latest proposals from the mayor that would limit public access to police body camera video, calling them...
View ArticleEditorial: Twitter's encouraging promise to "reboot" transparency
During the keynote address at Flight, Twitter’s 2015 Developer Conference, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a commitment to “reboot” Twitter’s relationship with the transparency sector. Even more...
View ArticlePennsylvania Senate approves open records changes
A bill that would change Pennsylvania's Right to Know law to require additional disclosures for state-related universities and curb some records access for prison inmates passed the Senate in a...
View ArticlePittsburgh councilman calls bill passage a "new era of transparency"
Pittsburgh councilman Dan Gilman’s campaign finance and ethics reform bills received final approval from the City Council this week. He said the bills are part of a “new era of transparency” in city...
View ArticleSnyder signs Michigan civil asset forfeiture laws requiring more...
Michigan is making law enforcement agencies report more details of their civil asset forfeiture programs and making it a little bit harder for them keep property they confiscate from residents.read more
View ArticleEditorial: Lawmakers should reject bill to shroud police misconduct
The wave of public outcry over incidents of police brutality has made it clear that citizens want their police departments to be held to a far higher level of public scrutiny than at any time in the...
View ArticleReport: Charter school budgets are a ‘black hole’ of public information
The nation's charter schools largely are created, overseen and policed by pro-charter advocates, resulting in "an epidemic of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that would not be tolerated in...
View ArticleProposed legislation calls for more transparency in police militarization
A new bill set to be presented at the next legislative session in Maryland's state house aims for more transparency when it comes to law enforcement militarization according to it's sponsor, Sen Bryan...
View ArticleEditorial: Strengthen FOIL in New York
If you've ever filed a Freedom of Information request with a public agency in New York, you probably know that it can be way too hard to get the goods.read more
View ArticleGOP changes to Wisconsin's John Doe law create exceptions for politicians,...
Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature are pushing a bill that would change the state’s so-called John Doe law, which allows for criminal investigations -- like two that were related to Gov. Scott...
View ArticleEditorial: Ensure access to body cam video
As Denver police get ready to introduce its body camera program next month, the department must do a better job of defining public access to the video.read more
View ArticleWhen lobbyists write legislation, this data mining tool traces the paper trail
Most kids learn the grade school civics lesson about how a bill becomes a law. What those lessons usually neglect to show is how legislation today is often birthed on a lobbyist’s desk.read more
View Article
