In 2022, Huntsville received the “Golden Padlock” award from the Investigative Reporters and Editors, highlighting secretive governments, for failing to release body camera footage after a police officer shot and killed a man suffering from suicidal ideation.

In most states, legislatures are subject to the public records laws that apply to other public entities. However, these laws may contain exemptions that apply to the legislative branch, either for certain offices, such as the auditor or legal services, or for certain types of correspondence and documentation related to working papers, bill drafts and other records.

Killeen officials denied the soldier’s mother the records by citing an exception in Texas’ public records law that allows law enforcement agencies to withhold or heavily redact police reports if a person has not been convicted or received deferred adjudication in the case. The rule was established in 1997 as a way to protect the privacy of people who were accused of or arrested for criminal activity that’s never substantiated.

Senate Bill 23-286, which passed on the General Assembly’s final day Monday, prohibits state agencies and local governments from requiring requesters to show identification to get CORA records. It obligates records custodians to accept credit cards or electronic payments for records if they already take them for other products and services, and it bars per-page charges for records provided in digital formats such as PDFs.

The Accountability Project (TAP) solves a problem for journalists: Searching across public data sets can be arduous, particularly on deadline. It also creates opportunity: Finding threads across campaign finance data, property records, business ownership and other sources can yield important stories about conflicts of interest, outsized influence and other issues that warrant deeper public scrutiny.

Almost half of all children in Missouri ages 5 and under, or about 202,000 kids, now live in child care deserts, The Missouri Independent and MuckRock found as part of a joint investigation, “Disappearing Day Care,” drawing from public records and data provided by the advocacy group Child Care Aware.

Whether it’s your first request or your first request today, it never hurts to go over the basics. MuckRock’s compiled a lot of FOIA advice over the years, and with this project, it’s all in one place.

“Misbehavior like this is why we created The Foilies, our annual tongue-in-cheek “awards” for agencies and officials that thwart the public’s right to government information or otherwise respond outrageously to requests for documents and records. Each year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock News, in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, publish this list of ne’er-do-wells to celebrate Sunshine Week (March 12-18)—an annual event to raise the profile of the democratic concept of government transparency.”

Most experts agree that 911 call analysis is junk science. But Murphy’s reporting documented more than 100 cases in 26 states where law enforcement used the results of 911 call analysis against defendants, often outside proper legal discovery obligations and without scrutiny.

The problem, as Spencer and advocates of government transparency see it, is that by the time someone requests certain e-mails or documents, they may have already been deleted or discarded. They believe the Governor’s policy of deleting correspondence and records within 30 days is illegal — and plan to challenge it in court.

Many Americans, if asked how data impacts them personally, would likely point to the convenience of social media, email, and online sales. But the societal benefits of data are manifold—and growing by the day. Understanding how data fosters economic opportunity, innovation, and a better quality of life is necessary to inform smart policymaking on issues like data privacy and security.

In the past year, we’ve seen numerous threats to transparency that endanger the public’s right to know about the actions of government officials, from state lawmakers rewriting rules to hide their communications to public officials’ use of auto-deleting messaging apps.In the past year, we’ve seen numerous threats to transparency that endanger the public’s right to know about the actions of government officials, from state lawmakers rewriting rules to hide their communications to public officials’ use of auto-deleting messaging apps.

After nearly three hours of testimony, much of it from citizens who identified themselves as Republicans, the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee rejected a proposal that would have “disemboweled” the state’s public records law, as one opponent described it.

At the national level, we have a strong Freedom of Information Act. But as anyone who’s made a FOIA request to a federal agency can tell you, the bureaucrats in federal agencies habitually resist disclosing records, responding to FOIA requests with delays at best and flimsy denials at worst. Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, a small business advocacy group which has fought and won dozens of FOIA lawsuits, says agencies either drag their feet or invoke weak excuses to avoid disclosing information about things as basic as the federal budget.

The department’s Office of Open Government, which is responsible for responding to open records requests and answering public inquiries about the interpretation of open government laws, reported that in 2022 the agency received a record-high 924 public records requests — beating the previous record by 100.

The likelihood of both of those things happening is looking good: SB 232 sponsor Sen. Janet Ellis, D-Helena, worked with Gov. Greg Gianforte to develop a record request framework that both parties could live with, and an amended version of the bill unanimously passed the Senate March 2.

72% of towns are not posting meeting documents online as required by law.

25% of towns are not posting meeting minutes or recordings online as required by law.

39% of counties failed to acknowledge a FOIL request within five business days as required by law.

28% of counties never acknowledged our FOIL request.

The following is a three-story example of the importance of public records, a free press, and holding government accountable. The first highlights an extensive investigation by the Hearst Media company into violations of the public records laws in Bridgeport, CT. The second covers Bridgeport’s immediate response, promising to fix the violations and issues after the story ran. The last details how the CT legislature is debating the need for better state laws to ensure records access and compliance in Bridgeport and all Connecticut jurisdictions.

State Senator Louis DiPalma told The Providence Journal that he’d experienced some of the challenges of obtaining public records firsthand in his previous role as the chair of the Senate Oversight Committee. He also noted that the Access to Public Records Act has not been updated in 10 years, and in that time “technology has certainly changed.”