Attorneys General

Staff shortages and budgetary constraints do not excuse a failure to timely comply with Kentucky's Open Records Act, the state's attorney general ruled on Aug. 25.

The case began when Kentucky New Era reporter Sarah Hogsed requested restaurant health reports for 2008 and 2009 from the Pennyrile District Health Department and encountered a 21-day delay. Under the law, the government has only three days to respond to a request.

A federal appellate court rightly decided this week to re-hear a case on the constitutionality of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans (5th Cir.) took the unusual and laudable step of granting a petition for en banc review, meaning the full court will now consider a case that a three-judge panel of the court previously decided.

The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy issued new guidance Friday further implementing the attorney general’s memo that gives direction to federal agencies regarding the Freedom of Information Act.

The guidance applies to all federal agencies and stresses "that the FOIA is to be administered with the presumption of openness.”

The Kentucky Attorney General this summer sided with Eastern Kentucky University's Progress student newspaper, deciding it should have access to university police reports free from widespread redactions. The attorney general's opinion, in response to a filing earlier this year by the paper, said the university police department was misusing Kentucky law intended to protect privacy interests to over-censor its reports.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Attorney General Michael Mukasey sparred over the proposed federal shield law Wednesday during Mukasey’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Pence, responding to Mukasey’s comment that the shield bill represents a “solution in search of a problem,” instead categorized the proposal as a “response to a rising erosion of our First Amendment freedom of the press.” 

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said he plans to ask the legislature next year to update the state's open records law.

Changes include requiring governmental bodies to accept e-mail requests for documents. Currently, the law is ambiguous as to whether e-mail is considered the same as written requests for public records.

Last week, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) responded to the Bush administration's rumored plan to instruct the Department of Justice to take over functions that had been assigned to the newly-created office of Government Information Services, set forth by the recently passed FOIA reform bill.

Leahy and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) made sure Attorney General Michael Mukasey was aware of the rumor when they spoke with him at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.

A poorly written concealed-carry permit law in Ohio has just crossed over to the absurd thanks to a written opinion by state Attorney General Marc Dann. 

The (Toledo) Blade reports that  the law as written allows reporters to inspect concealed weapons records but does not allow copies of the records.  It's bad enough that the law already on the books excludes the general public all together.