Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

Access to Records

California Legislature’s feel-good resolution on openness

FAC March 23, 2014

The state Senate voted unanimously last week to honor “Sunshine Week” by declaring its “long tradition in support of open government and access to government records,” but in an editorial the San Francisco Chronicle observes that words aren’t always accompanied by action. The paper cites two current examples in which the Legislature turned its back on transparency. Democrats and Republicans were both culpable. Full story

Read More »

A sawbuck to look up a court file?

FAC March 21, 2013

Gov. Brown’s budget proposal for California includes a hefty fee for individuals, news media and others who want to inspect court records. The plan would impose a $10 charge for looking up documents, a service now provided for free. The courts now charge $15 to check out a record if a member of the public keeps it for more than 10 minutes. The new plan would exempt fees for people looking up their own cases,

Read More »

New York tightens gun laws – and access to records of who owns them

FAC January 16, 2013

The New York law expanding background checks for gun purchases and broadening the definition of assault weapons carried another provision: limits on access to records of who owns guns. The law came amid controversy over a newspaper’s publication of the names and addresses of gun owners in two New York counties. While advocates for access to government data decried the law, many also questioned The Journal News decision to map and list addresses for residents

Read More »

Critics say access bill could have opposite result

FAC July 1, 2012

A bill purporting to give the public more access to gas and electric company safety records in California could do just the opposite, opponents say. The legislation, proposed by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, would eliminate the ability of utility companies to unilaterally declare documents secret, instead giving authority over decisions to the state Public Utilities Commission. But opponents say it also would create broad categories of information that’s off limits to the public. The bill

Read More »

Electronic Frontier Foundation provides support for bloggers seeking access to government

donal brown May 31, 2012

Stating that “people who do journalism are journalists,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting efforts of government bodies to deny local bloggers, sometimes called “hyperlocals,” the rights and status of other journalists. The EFF’s “Legal Guide for Bloggers” provides information about the right of access to public meetings and records.  -db From a commentary in Street Fight Magazine,  May 29, 2012, by Brian Dengler. Full story  

Read More »