The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) launched today a national Secrecy Tracker to help identify legislation that threatens the public’s access to government records and meetings. 

The tool allows anyone for free to see what bills are proposed in any state, Congress, and Washington, D.C., that are related to public records and open meeting laws. The Secrecy Tracker employs machine learning to help sift out false positives and capture bills that may not include relevant keywords but still relate to transparency. 

“This allows anyone to find out what bills could hamper the flow of civic information before they are passed into laws,” said David Cuillier, director of the Brechner FOI Project. “It also allows researchers and advocates to identify national trends over time and across states.” 

The bill search is updated daily, and users can retrieve relevant legislation across the country proposed since 2011. Civil society organizations can embed their state’s list of bills on their websites as a widget. The tool was created by web developer Billy O’Keefe in coordination with BillTrack50 and Brechner FOI Project researcher Katherine Marin. 

“At BillTrack50, we believe that an informed citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy,” said founder Karen Suhaka. “The Secrecy Tracker transforms how people can monitor and understand legislation affecting government transparency. We’re proud to partner with the Brechner FOI Project to help citizens, journalists and advocacy groups stay ahead of changes that could impact public access to government information.” 

The nonpartisan Brechner FOI Project, which will maintain the secrecytracker.org website, pays for access to the bill information through endowments created since its founding in 1977 to foster freedom of information and educate journalists, citizens and policy makers.  

“The launch of Secrecy Tracker is a tremendous step forward in giving people the opportunity to see and understand possible threats to their access to public information, said UFCJC Dean Hub Brown. “That’s the first step toward protecting that access. I’m excited about this latest step in the Brechner FOI Project’s mission to give people the information they need to hold their government accountable.” 

The non-partisan, nonprofit Brechner Freedom of Information Project works to educate journalists, policymakers and the general public about the law of access today and how it should work tomorrow. The Project, based in Weimer Hall 1204 at UFCJC, is a source of research, expertise and advocacy about the law of gathering and disseminating news across all platforms and technologies. For more information, visit the website at brechner.org/foi, or contact David Cuillier at cuillierd@ufl.edu.  

Posted: January 29, 2025
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Brechner FOI Project, Brechner Freedom of Information Project, FOI, Secrecy Tracker