How does Virginia rate on access to government information for reporters and the public?

A new survey conducted jointly by Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Better Government Association gave a “grade” to 50 states and the District of Columbia on how well their FOI laws are working.

Most states got Cs, Ds and Fs.

Virginia ranked fifth, with a B-.

Florida, which has long enjoyed a reputation as being one of the most open states in the country, was 19th, with a C-.

Criteria were broken into two categories - three procedural criteria and two penalty criteria.

The procedural criteria measure (1) the amount of time a public agency or department has to respond to a citizen’s request for a public document; (2) the process a citizen must go through to appeal the decision of an agency to deny the request for the public record; and (3) whether an appeal is expedited when it reaches the court system.

The penalty criteria weigh (1) whether the complaining party, upon receiving a favorable judgment in court, is awarded attorney fees and costs; and (2) whether the agency that has wrongfully withheld a record is subject to any civil or criminal punishment.

The complete results can be found online at:

http://www.ire.org/foi/bga/