Brechner News

A new bill is making its way through the Wisconsin State Legislature that could bring the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) under the state’s public records and open meetings laws.

The seventh annual Freedom of Information Research Competition, sponsored by the National Freedom of Information Coalition and University of Florida Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project, welcomes one-page proposals for papers that shed light on freedom of information. 

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. 

According to reporting from Bridge Michigan, Hall told reporters, "You're not going to see fast action on the FOIA stuff from me in the House,” he said. “You're just not." 

A recent study published in Regulation & Governance found that German states that require government agencies to be proactive and helpful in providing records to the public are more likely to respond better to public record requests. 

In a recent article in the Emory Law Journal, law student Maranda Johnston critiques the growing use of trade secret exemptions by private companies to withhold vital information from the public. These exemptions, she argues, allow companies to avoid transparency and scrutiny, even when the information they possess could be critical to public health, safety, or the environment.

House Bill 100 proposed in the Montana Legislature sounds good on the surface, touted as streamlining the process. But the details indicate otherwise. 

A study published in the Lincoln Memorial University Law Review argues that expunging felony and misdemeanor conviction records has societal benefits with "minimal side effects."

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that Gov. Greg Gianforte may withhold certain documents from the public, including those related to policy development and internal deliberations.

A study recently published in the Journal of Mathematics Instruction, Social Research and Opinion found that while 92% residents in Budhanilkantha, Nepal, understood the importance of transparency in creating good government, only a quarter sought information from the government. 

In a new lawsuit, a former high-profile Utah State employee alleges that two of his ex-bosses have been engaging in conversations on a messaging app that automatically deletes texts, to subvert the state’s open record laws.

A study published in Government Information Quarterly recently noted that government institutions should post open records data online in more digestible ways to avoid turning citizens off.