FOIA reform

The National Archives announced Monday that it plans to release all of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s schedules from her time in the White House later this month but is asking that the judge delay the release of her telephone logs for at least one to two years.

As the election season has progressed, Clinton has been increasingly criticized for not releasing the documents sooner.

Last week, state Rep. Margaret Donnelly introduced legislation to expand the Missouri Sunshine Law.

Donnelly, a Democrat running for attorney general, drafted the measure as a result of the Missouri Ethics Commission’s decision to close campaign finance hearings on whether candidates should return excessive campaign contributions. House Bill 2303 seeks to open these hearings to the public.

Two bills that would strengthen the Mississippi open records law are moving forward in the legislature, with law enforcement agencies and open government advocacy groups coming to long-awaited compromises.

The South Dakota House passed a bill that sets up a procedure to resolve disputes over access to government records. If a request is denied, the citizen may appeal to the state Office of Hearing Examiners for review to determine if the records should be released. The bill would make appealing denials quicker and less expensive.

SB186 has already passed in the state Senate, but heads back to the chamber for approval of any adjustments the House may have made.

Open government advocates in Mississippi are finally starting to see legislative support after years of pushing for better access to records and meetings with several bills moving forward this week.

A bill to make government records more open to the public passed the South Dakota state Senate, but was killed by one vote on Wednesday in the House State Affairs Committee.

SB 189 was introduced by state Sen. Nancy Turbak Berry and stated that both state and local government documents are open to the public unless explicitly sealed by state law. 

Critics said the bill went too far and would not protect disclosure on private individuals and corporations.

Last week, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 97-1 to pass a bill restricting public access to the names of concealed weapons permit holders and allowing circuit court clerks to use their own discretion when releasing the names of the permit holders. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) criticized the White House Monday for an item in the proposed FY09 budget that puts the new FOIA office, originally slated to be in the National Archives, in the Justice Department instead.

The White House has declared war on the new Office of Government Information Services -- popularly known as the office of the "ombudsman" -- that was created through the Freedom of Information Act reform bill signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 31.

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.