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open 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

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In California, a clearer look at gifts to public officials

FAC April 26, 2013

The toughest financial disclosure rules for public officials have little effect if the press and public can’t easily gain access to the information. Now the California Fair Political Practices Commission and a non-profit called Code for America are trying to bridge the information gap. By digitizing required disclosure data from California judges into spreadsheet-readable form, then plotting the results on a chart, the project created a picture of who’s giving and who’s taking gifts and

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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

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Editorial argues Sandusky case shows importance of open records

donal brown July 17, 2012

An editorial in the Knoxville News Sentinel makes that case that officials at Penn State used exemptions to the open records act specifically for state universities to hide the cover-up of football coach Jerry Sandusky’s on-campus rape of a child. And without the exemptions, a report on an incident in 1998 may have surfaced and spared other children sexual assault. From an editorial by the Knoxville News Sentinel, July 17, 2012, by News Sentinel Editorial

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Chicago Tribune dealt set back in quest for University of Illinois records

donal brown May 29, 2012

A federal appeals court ruled against the Chicago Tribune in its quest for secure records from the University of Illinois relating to the school’s preferential review process for applicants for admission with connections to influential supporters. The court said the case belonged in state court under state open records laws. -db From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, May 24, 2012, by You-Jin Han. Full story

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