by Trevor Timm, Freedom of the Press Foundation, May 25, 2023

In honor of a whistleblowing legend: Announcing the Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy. In one of his final public talks, addressing a room of more than 200 journalists, Daniel Ellsberg was asked how the media could better support whistleblowers. In a passionate response, Ellsberg urged the audience—and the press at large—to investigate the U.S. government’s classification system.

By Emry Dinman, The Spokesman-Review, Sept. 2, 2024

Spokane fails a basic public records test 24% of the time. An audit and new hire aims to improve. The city of Spokane is struggling to meet its obligations under the state Public Records Act, a tool meant to allow everyone, whether they’re reporters, lawyers, cranks or concerned citizens, to crack open Washington governments and understand how decisions get made.

By Juan Pablo Ripamonti, Science Digest, Volume 41, Issue 3, 9 August 2024

Citizens' trust in government is associated with many positive outcomes, including increased productivity, compliance with policies, and reduced tax evasion. To strengthen trust, governments have often implemented various transparency policies and legislation.

However, empirical studies conducted in the past reveal mixed outcomes from these efforts. Some research has identified positive effects on trust, while other studies have reported negative or negligible impacts.

A state Supreme Court’s decision reversing a lower court’s ruling that a private contractor was exempt from the Georgia Open Records Act is being hailed as a win for open government.

A New Jersey appellate panel struck down a regulation Monday that shields from disclosure documents submitted to the state body that oversees public record disputes, finding the rule has no basis in law and runs counter to the transparency legislation the Government Records Council is tasked with enforcing.

Public Health data collection and communication proved to be crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government has announced a $255 million program to improve public health agency’s ability to improve in this area. The monies are made available through the CDC with the goal of developing strong, secure data exchanges between public health agencies.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG) filed this as their first-ever lawsuit — and believes the county has been withholding public information. FOG says The Albuquerque Journal tried to request multiple records — but was denied. The Journal was looking into the death of an inmate at MDC. The inmate's estate accused a former jailer of using excessive force, resulting in death.

The city of Tarpon Springs broke Florida’s public records law when it withheld documents requested by its former city attorneys and manufactured excuses of confusion for “bad faith” delays, a judge has ruled. For nearly two years, the city created “unquestionably unjustifiable delays” in producing records while illegally withholding others, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Jirotka wrote in his July 10 ruling.

A $100 million project that’s moving North Carolina’s court documents online is “saving time and providing transparency,” the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts says. But in Mecklenburg County it’s taking far longer for some public records to actually reach the public.

A new law aimed at protecting judges and their families by prohibiting personal information from being disclosed on state, county and local websites upon request could impact county resources. Supervisor Randy Cook asked how does one prevent that data from being obtained elsewhere on sites online. “You don’t,” Scott Moore of Fidlar Technologies replied. That’s why the law has been dubbed “feel good legislation,” because it makes them feel protected while in reality that is not the case.

North Carolina Democratic lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment to open up the legislature's communications as public records. It's a response to a new state law Republicans passed, increasing secrecy around their communications and other records. The proposal is almost guaranteed to fail at the legislature; Republican leaders have been clear they support the changes they made last year increasing secrecy and have no intent of undoing those changes now.

The Free Expression Legal Network is a nationwide coalition of law school clinics, academics, and practitioners focused on promoting and protecting free speech, free press, and the free flow of information to an informed and engaged citizenry. The network allows members to better share resources and expertise, while collaborating on projects to defend the constitutional rights of free speech and a free press. FELN members have handled a diverse array of cases in recent years.

Each state has its own laws about making documents, data and other records accessible to the public. There are also separate public records laws for the federal agencies, the District of Columbia, and territories. The data in this interactive database is drawn from MuckRock's database and from work by Miranda Spivack.

Tunis Cole was obviously proud of his service in the war and his role in the fight for American freedom. The Revolutionary War veteran hoped that he could have some measure of financial security in his old age. Cole's 1848 pension application was written, like thousands of other veterans' applications, by hand. Now, almost 250 years later, Americans are hearing a new call to arms. Citizen archivists are needed to transcribe original pension applications from the nation's first veterans into a massive database − and help reveal their extraordinary and untold stories.

A nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization (New York Coalition for Open Government) is calling on New York agencies to perform better tracking of Freedom of Information Law requests after it sought and reviewed data from about 70 agencies. The state has a backlog of FOIA request, some dating back to more than 3 years ago.

Public unrest.

That’s what Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, fears would happen if the public were made privy to the state government’s deliberative records — records they can already access. Public safety is the justification for Cloud’s Senate Bill 482, which would create one of the broadest ever public records exemptions for state government.

It’s not often an overwhelming majority of New Jersey residents agree on something, but both Republicans and Democrats appear to be united in rejecting changes to the state’s Open Public Records Act.s.

An Alabama Senate committee Tuesday approved a bill that would require state agencies to acknowledge and respond to public records requests within a certain timeframe.The bill would give requestors the right to sue if the request has not been approved or denied or if the records have not been produced after fees are paid within 30 business days or 60 calendar days.

McMakin’s House Bill 116 removes privacy protections for personnel records of public employees. The bill would undo case law that has put up significant roadblocks to those wanting to access records related to investigations into public employee misconduct. McMakin believes shielding those records from public view is wrong.

Florida lawmakers approved 16 new public records exemptions in the 2024 legislative session, according to the First Amendment Foundation. Getting public records in Florida increasingly takes waiting months, shelling out hundreds if not thousands of dollars, hiring a lawyer and in one recent case even having the police called.