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NASA considers changes in policies to favor whistleblowers

donal brown August 22, 2011

In response to criticism that scientists working for the National Aeronautical and Space Agency have been prevented from criticizing the agency’s operation and policies, NASA has agreed to draft policies that would grant their employees greater freedom of dissent. Under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, expanded in 1994, whistleblowers have been favored in only 3 of 206 cases filed in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The new policies would address the loopholes in

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California: Chico school loses charter partly from alleged open meeting violations

donal brown August 22, 2011

The Chico Green School lost its charter and state funding partly because the school allegedly violated the Brown Act, California’s open meetings law. The attorney for the Green School said the Brown Act did not apply to charter schools since the act did not mention them. The judge who withdrew the state funding said charter schools provide services to the public, use public funds to finance the services and are therefore subject to the Brown

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A&A: Can I appeal a records request denial from State Medical Board?

FAC August 22, 2011

Q: I made a request to the California Medical Board for licensing application information. The Medical Board denied my request and offered no avenues for appeal. By my reading of relevant case law, and admittedly I am not a lawyer, this information is clearly not exempt from the Public Records Act. Are there avenues for appeal for this kind of denial that don’t involve entering litigation? If litigation is required, is it common practice, or

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A&A: Board retailiating against former colleague who called them on Brown Act violations

FAC August 21, 2011

Q: I am a former 15 year elected official for a small airport special district. Prior to being a board member, I have been a hangar tenant at the same airport. In 2008 I decided to not run for another term and became a spectator. What I observed with the new Board was an immediate termination of the GM and hiring of a new GM with no public sector experience. Since his employment, I caught

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California: Too quick may mean open meeting violation by Sacramento City Council

donal brown August 19, 2011

The Sacramento City Council may have violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, when it quickly adopted a plan for Sacramento redistricting  at its August 9 meeting, writes Melissa Corker for the Sacramento Press. Corker says the council suddenly presented a new map for redistricting after months of work by a citizens’ advisory committee and passed it with a 6-3 vote, prompting speculation about whether a majority of the council had met behind closed

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