Open Government Around the Country for the Week of March 22
Federal government:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has recently issued this memorandum for the implementation of President Obama's January 21 FOIA directions. All of President Obama's efforts are nicely highlighted in this editorial in The Daily News, from Longview, Washington.
A recent study of freedom of information laws throughout the world found that the United States has one of the highest ranked freedom of information laws in the world. This was before President Obama's recent initiatives.
California:
In a recent article, the Sacramento Bee, reported on the open government issues that arise from a mayor using "volunteer" private help. The article notes that under California law, it is "unclear about whether the emails, text messages, voicemails and other writings produced on non-City equipment and property are public records."
Under Washington law, every record that (1) is related to the conduct of government and (2) is "prepared, owned, used, or retained" by a government is a public record. RCW 42.56.010(2). Thus records related to the conduct of government that are located on non-public agency equipment will be still be public records as long as the records are used by the agency.
Maryland:
The Maryland general assembly (its lower house) has just passed new legislation that purports to subject the Maryland legislature to the state's public records and open meetings laws. According to at least one legislator, however, the changes actually make the legislature more opaque. For public records, the new legislation would exempt all emails to and from legislators. Under current law, some of these emails may have to be disclosed. For meetings, legislation allows party caucuses, budget meetings between party leaders and lunch meetings with the governor to remain private. These exceptions authorized by the new law may allow legislators to make important decisions outside of the public eye.
In Washington, the laws permit even greater legislative secrecy. As noted in this post, the Washington Legislature has defined "public records" to exclude all of a legislator's records. Likewise, the Legislature has excluded itself from the definition of "public agency" in the Open Public Meetings Act, meaning that none of its meetings are subject to that law.
