11. Other penalties.

Negligent violation of the FOIA is a criminal offense, a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, the defendant can be punished by a fine of no more than $100, a jail term of up to 30 days, or both. Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-104. Criminal prosecutions for FOIA violations are relatively infrequent but do occur. For example, the mayor of Hartford was convicted in Greenwood Municipal Court for participating in discussions about matters other than personnel issues during an executive session of the city council. The municipal court ordered the mayor to read the FOIA and to attend a seminar on the act. See “Judge rules mayor ran afoul of FOI,” Southwest Times Record (July 20, 2000). The FOIA formerly expressly allowed sentences of “appropriate public service or education, or both,” alternatively to fine or jail term, but that language was deleted with implementation of a legislative overhaul of criminal code provisions in 2005.