FOI

A bill clarifying aspects of Arkansas’ public meetings law has passed the Senate and is now heading to the governor’s desk. Senate Bill 227 specifies what city councils, quorum courts, and school boards can discuss outside of a public meeting. It also allows courts to nullify decisions made by a…

Journalists in the United Kingdom have become increasingly frustrated with roadblocks in acquiring public records, according to a study published in Journalism Practice.   Jingrong Tong of the University of Sheffield interviewed 31 journalists about their struggles to obtain government records, pointing to several key issues: lack of resources at government…

In Oklahoma, House Bill 2163, proposes the creation of a Public Access Counselor within the Office of the Attorney General to handle complaints related to denied public records.  According to reporting from the Oklahoma Voice, Republican House Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, who authored the bill, said he hopes this will…

Citizen Documenters’ summaries of public meetings are more readable and useful to the public than agency meeting minutes, according to a study by Nina Kelly, a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University, published in the Journal of Civic Information.  The Documenters Network is a program started in 2018 by City…

The first Sunshine Fest March 19-20 enabled about 160 people from throughout the country – and also from Canada, Brazil and Ghana – to discuss solutions to the most pressing problems in government transparency.  The sold-out event was coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the…

As we mark the 20th anniversary of Sunshine Week (March 16-22, 2025), which was born in Florida, David Cuillier, Brechner FOI Project’s director, highlights the troubling shift in the state’s approach to government transparency in a column for The Conversation. Started as Sunshine Sunday back in 2002, Cuillier notes that…

Federal agencies should improve the FOIA process by utilizing data tools more effectively to identify records to proactively post, according to a white paper issued Feb. 24 by the Data Working Group of the Chief FOIA Officers’ Council.  The working group interviewed representatives from 10 federal agencies to find that…

A new bill could bring public access back to the selection process for Florida’s public university and college presidents.  According to reporting from The Daytona Beach News- Journal, Republican state Sen. Alexis Calatayud and state rep. Michelle Salzman filed identical bills, SB 1726 and HB 1321, to remove the public…

Whistle blowers are a key component for the public to learn about what the government is up to, and a recent study in Public Administration found the best way to encourage government employees to do the right thing is to focus on the waste of tax dollars for the community…

Cities that post on Facebook basic news, without political messaging, demonstrate more online engagement with their citizens, according to a study in Government Information Quarterly.  Hyacinth Balediata Bangero, a researcher from Bowling Green State University, analyzed the content of Facebook posts for 25 cities in the Philippines, finding that cities…

A Utah Senate committee narrowly approved a bill that would dismantle the citizen-led committee responsible for resolving disputes over access to government records. The proposal would replace the State Records Committee with an administrative law judge appointed by the governor.  Following continued reporting from the Salt Lake Tribune, Senate Majority…

A recent study in Indonesia highlights frustrations like those reported by public records requesters in the United States. The researcher of the study, “Citizens’ subjective experiences of public information disclosure: A human rights and transparency perspective,” conducted 10 in depth-interviews with individuals seeking government records to learn that people were…