Ombudsman

Recent changes in Maine’s Freedom of Access Act have funded an ombudsman position and improved access to public records under the law.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Richard Rosen and signed into law last week by Gov. Paul LePage, is "a step forward" in the public's ability to access records in a system previously marked by confusion and poor organization, media advocates said.

A backlog of requests to mediate public records disputes has accumulated since Pennsylvania's new public records law took effect at the beginning of this year, the Philadelphia Daily News reports.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today overhauling the state’s freedom of information law.

The legislation has been sitting on Quinn’s desk for several months since squeaking out of the last legislative session at its very end.

The National Archives announced Wednesday it has filled the newly created position of FOIA ombudsman for the federal government, a role open government advocates hope will help resolve access disputes.

Miram Nisbet has been hired to head the Office of Government Information Services, which is housed at the National Archives and Records Administration. The ombudsman's office was created by the 2007 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act to be an intermediary between government agencies and requesters.

With Congress's approval Tuesday of the omnibus spending bill, the Office of Government Services, which will house the new ombudsman for the Freedom of Information Act, received $1 million in start-up funds.

Open-government advocates renewed their calls Wednesday for quick implementation of the latest Freedom of Information reforms, including the establishment of an ombudsman office.

Congress has appropriated $1 million for the Office of Government Information Services but the money will not be available until the next fiscal year. The reforms were slowed by Bush  administration efforts to move the new office from the National Archives, where Congress placed it in legislation last year, to the Justice Department. 

A bill making its way through the Tennessee legislature would revamp the state’s public records law by, among other things, establishing a deadline for agencies to respond to information requests.

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.

The position of public records ombudsman is rapidly becoming a regular feature of state open records laws.  Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Washington, Arizona and now Tennessee all have a state ombudsman with public records jurisdiction.