FOIA reform

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court’s decision that the open meetings provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information Act is unconstitutional, stating that questions about how the law applies to changes in technology and other concerns should be taken to the legislature, not the court.

But the Supreme Court also upheld the circuit court’s ruling that local government officials did not violate the Act when an administrator met with city board members in a series of one-on-one meetings.

More than 60 percent of federal agencies have not responded to calls by Congress or President Barack Obama to update their Freedom of Information Act regulations, according to a National Security Archive report released today.

An Alaska Supreme Court decision makes private e-mail messages containing government business subject to the state Public Records Act but also makes obtaining those records difficult.

Friday's ruling held that the state Public Records Act does not prohibit public officials from conducting government business through their private e-mail accounts, potentially posing difficulties for people seeking to access those messages in the future, Alaska media lawyer D. John McKay said in an interview.

The importance of streamlining agency efforts to fill federal Freedom of Information Act requests was the hot topic at a subcommittee hearing yesterday of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Transparency and government adherence to the federal Freedom of Information Act was under scrutiny at a U.S. Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday morning.

Despite President Barack Obama’s promise for more transparency in government, the administration has a long way to go, according to experts at a open government conference held in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

An estimated 100 journalists, watchdog group employees, media lawyers and government representatives attended the day-long "Transparency in the Obama Administration" conference hosted by the American University Washington College of Law.

More than a week after media reports revealed that proposed Office of Government and Information Services recommendations to improve federal Freedom of Information Act implementation have been awaiting the Office of Management and Budget’s approval for nine months, OMB has taken no further public action, although discussions about the recommendations are allegedly ongoing.

“There were talks going on [Tuesday] and things are in development,” said OMB spokeswoman Meg Reilly.

Following Tuesday's U.S. Senate hearing on the federal Freedom of Information Act, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing Thursday on how the FOIA can boost government transparency and accountability. Committee members and witnesses agreed the government needs to be held accountable for the lack of transparency.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday heard from government officials and transparency advocates about how to improve the federal Freedom of Information Act in the "Digital Age." Committee members present at the hearing and witnesses seemed to agree that more needs to be done to make records accessible, and using the Internet to proactively release records would be a step in the right direction.