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2009:
For the Public
2009 marks the 100th anniversary of Florida's public record laws. Media in Florida, including The Associated Press, recognized that milestone on March 15 -- Sunshine Sunday. Florida's Sunshine Sunday was the harbinger of what's now known as the national Sunshine Week initiative. View Florida newspapers' shared content on the Florida Society of News Editors Web site. AP's Brendan Farrington contributed a story on Sunshine Sunday bills by Florida lawmakers while Jessica Gresko bylined a profile of First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Petersen. Here are excerpts from their AP articles:
Nothing's secret about open government advocate
By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- There's a file in Barbara Petersen's office labeled "Death Threat" in red pen. The office has only saved one -- on an answering machine cassette tape -- but there was a time in 2001 after the death of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt when threats coming in by e-mail and phone were not uncommon.
As the president of the First Amendment Foundation, which advocates for citizens' access to government meetings and records, Petersen found herself defending the public's right to access autopsy photos, including those of Earnhardt, who died in a crash at the Daytona 500.
NASCAR fans didn't like it. Callers and e-mailers threatened to put her dead sister's autopsy photos online -- even though no autopsy had been done when her sister died of breast cancer.
Petersen said the venom shocked her, but it didn't change what she was doing.
"It didn't make me question the rightness of my position," she said.
As the head of the nonprofit foundation for more than a decade, Petersen has gotten used to taking sometimes unpopular positions. And she's become not just well known to Florida politicians, who have come to rely on her opinion, but also nationally.
Fla. lawmakers seek dozens of ways to block access
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- As Florida newspapers call attention to laws that guarantee access to public records and government meetings, lawmakers are considering dozens of bills to block information now available to citizens.
They cover a wide variety of issues, from closing access to crime scene photographs that show all or part of a dead body to protecting personal information of public employees and their families. The laws would create an exemption to the state Constitution, which guarantees access to government records.
"A lot of them are pretty stinky. Oddly stinky, in that the sponsors may not be aware of the affect of the exemption," said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation.
The foundation, an open government watchdog whose board of trustees includes several news industry managers from around Florida, is tracking 115 bills during the 60-day legislative session, and they are opposing 37. There are 52 bills that would create exemptions to the constitution and close access to records.
The opposition and exemption lists could get larger, though, because many of the bills being watched are placeholders that list a subject, but contain no language, so it's unknown what lawmakers' intentions are.
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March 17, 2009
Culver proclaims Sunshine Week
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Chet Culver has proclaimed this week as Sunshine Week in Iowa, highlighting the importance of a free press.
In his proclamation made, Culver says President Barack Obama has made open government a federal priority and that the right to share information without fear of retribution is essential to a free society.
Culver proclaimed Sunshine Week as March 15-21 this year.
Sunshine Week is an initiative being observed in Iowa and nationally by journalism organizations to focus on open government and access to information.
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In Iowa, more than a dozen of Iowa's 99 counties don't offer a Web site, and there are glaring inconsistencies in content among those counties that maintain sites, reports AP's Michael J. Crumb.
The Associated Press conducted a one-day spot-check of county and state government Web sites in late February as part of Sunshine Week, a journalist-led effort to spotlight the importance of government openness.
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In Illinois, reports AP's Deanna Bellandi,
ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration was known for routinely fighting or ignoring even the most basic requests for information.
New Gov. Pat Quinn is moving quickly to open up state government. But he has a long road ahead.
Illinois ranked No. 32 nationally in the 2009 Sunshine Week survey of state and local government information readily available on the Internet.
Illinois has public records in 10 of the 20 online categories surveyed. But it doesn't have a searchable statewide database of expenditures, the Illinois Department of Transportation doesn't make contracts available on its Web site and hospital inspection reports aren't available online, according to the survey. Illinois' results follow:
1. Death certificates _ No
2. Personal financial disclosure reports of state officials _ Yes
3. Internal and external audit reports _ Yes
4. Searchable statewide database of expenditures _ No
5. Department of Transportation projects and contracts _ No
6. Bridge inspection and safety records _ No
7. Fictitious name registrations of businesses _ Yes
8. Disciplinary actions against attorneys _ Yes
9. Disciplinary actions against medical physicians _ Yes
10. Hospital inspection reports _ No
11. Nursing home inspection reports _ No
12. Child care center inspection reports _ No
13. Comparable statewide school test data _ Yes
14. Teacher certifications _ Yes
15. School building inspection records and/or safety ratings _ No
16. School bus inspections _ No
17. Gas pump overcharge records _ No
18. Consumer complaints against businesses _ Yes
19. Environmental citations/violations _ Yes
20. Political campaign contributions and expenses _ Yes
Source: American Society of Newspaper Editors' Freedom of Information Committee, the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists' FOI Committee.
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In Colorado, Coloradans can get a wide range of public records online at no charge, ranging from school test results to hospital inspection reports, AP's Dan Elliott reports. But some key information is harder to find.
In Wisconsin, AP's Robert Imrie reports, a growing number of state records are available online in Wisconsin -- from bridge inspection reports and teacher certifications to disciplinary actions against doctors -- but getting financial disclosure reports of state officials has strings attached, a survey found.
In Virginia,
unless you're looking for death certificates, hospital inspections or a handful of other official state documents, chances are you can find them online in Virginia, reports AP's Dena Potter.
In Georgia, AP's Walter Putnam reports, the state government is making progress in providing "sunshine law" public information on the Internet, but conditions are still partly cloudy in Georgia, according to a survey by The Associated Press.
Utah gets high marks for offering online access to government information, yet a recent survey found plenty to criticize, reports AP's Paul Foy. State agencies offer volumes of stuff, but much of it isn't very useful. It can be unorganized, dated and hard to find, and some important information is missing entirely.
In Arkansas, AP's Daniel Shea reports,
state agencies are doing a better job than most at making government records available online, but safety reports and consumer information are still lacking, a nationwide survey found.
In Arizona, if Arizonans want to know whether their doctor or attorney has been cited by state authorities, an Internet search will provide the answer. But, if parents want to find data on teacher certifications or school safety reports online, they're out of luck, reports AP's Felicia Fonseca.
In Mississippi, open government advocates say the state can do a better job of providing access to information, but citizens have to demand it, reports AP's Shelia Byrd.
AP's Scott Bauer reports five Midwestern states sporadically enforce open government laws, with workers not adequately trained to carry out the policies, according to a new report from Citizen Advocacy Center. In a study of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, the non-profit center based in Chicago found none of the states has a government office specifically created to oversee and enforce open government laws and poorly trained state employees may be unintentionally violating the law.
In Alabama, AP's Desiree Hunter reports, when Daniel Roberts set out to track how money was being swapped between Alabama political action committees, he was pleasantly surprised to find the information easily accessible on the Internet. "I really don't think it's as bad as you would think it is," Roberts, a former political blogger, said of the state's online presence. "There's a lot of good stuff there." Alabama ranked 19th in a 50-state survey that examined online government information, but advocates for open government say far more online access to public records should be available in the state.
In South Dakota, Gov. Mike Rounds announced he has signed into law a measure that presumes government documents in South Dakota are public unless there's a good reason to keep them secret. The governor and some local government groups opposed a similar measure last year, AP's Chet Brokaw reports, but Rounds said this year's bill strikes a balance between opening public records and protecting the private information that some agencies hold about people.
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A glance at best and worst states for online info
By The Associated Press
Texas ranked first and Mississippi last in a national Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information Online. The ranking is based on how many kinds of public records, out of 20 potential categories, each state makes available on the Internet. Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 states, along with how many categories of online records they had:
1. Texas — 20
2. New Jersey — 19
3. Kentucky — 17
4. North Carolina — 17
5. Utah — 17
6. Michigan — 16
7. New York — 16
8. Colorado — 15
9. Nevada — 15
10. Ohio — 15
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41. Rhode Island — 8
42. West Virginia — 8
43. Idaho — 7
44. Indiana — 7
45. Montana — 7
46. New Mexico — 7
47. Oregon — 7
48. South Dakota — 7
49. Wyoming — 7
50. Mississippi — 4
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March 19, 2009
NC treasurer Cowell announces offices changes
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell says she'll change how her office does business so the public can see more clearly how investment decisions are made.
Cowell on Thursday announced reforms her office will follow or seek through the Legislature.
She said many current and future high-level employees won't be able to lobby or market services to the Treasurer's Officer for a year after leaving their posts. Investment performance and asset allocation of state investments will be posted quarterly on the office Web site.
Cowell also plans to hire an independent consultant to evaluate the investment program in her office.
The announcement comes during Sunshine Week, which is spearheaded by media organizations to highlight freedom of information laws.
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SUNSHINE WEEK 2009
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