State legislatures and agencies have been eroding the public’s right to know over the past few years. In Kentucky the attorney general’s office decided that government correspondence on private devices such as cell phones were not part of the public record. Florida has undermined its staunch public records law with over 1,100 exemptions for information that could be withheld from the press and public. Other roadblocks entail transferring government records to nonprofit or for-profit companies who do not have to comply with freedom of information laws and charging high fees for documents. (Governing, June 2018, by Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene)
The advent of cell phones have opened opportunities for record suppression. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s administration decided in 2015 that certain records were “transitory” and could not be at part of the public record. At issue were text messages concerning a state loan of $500,000 to a Milwaukee construction company owned by a Walker donor. In 2016 the Public Records Board said they would continue to look at the definition of “transitory records.” The wording adopted in 2010 designated the records as serving no long-term purpose. New wording would give examples including e-mails to schedule meetings and set agendas. (The Capitol Times, January 11, 2016, by Katelyn Ferral)