Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has appointed the House majority leader, Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, to the Freedom of Information Advisory

Griffith introduced legislation in the 2004 General Assembly session that would have exempted meetings of the legislature from the open-meetings portion of the FOI Act.

Griffith will replace Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, on the council. Although Howell recently removed Jones from the Joint Commission on Health Care, Howell’s chief of staff said Jones asked in December to be taken off the FOIA council.

Jones’ removal from the health-care commission was attributed to his role as a leader of the 17 Republicans who defied the House leadership to vote for a $1.4 billion tax increase.

Griffith, meanwhile, had asked to be appointed to the council, in part because he wants to clear up misunderstandings about his proposed legislation in the recent session, Howell staff chief Paul Nardo said.

Griffith said he had proposed the legislation because there was “a gray area” as to which meetings could be open and which could be closed.

“I think government ought to be open,” he said, “but there are circumstances when we need to get together and figure out where we are going before we have a debate.”

Griffith said he does not see any irony in his appointment.

“I’m one of the few legislators interested in the FOI Act,” he said.

Although the original bill would have allowed the Joint Rules Committee to shut down public meetings of the legislature, Griffith said that was not his intent.

He said he wanted to clarify whether caucus meetings the two political parties hold daily during the legislative session could be closed. The minority Democrats opened their meetings to the media; the Republicans did not.

The assembly adopted a compromise measure that provides that events such as floor sessions, committee meetings and work sessions would be open. Joint Rules would decide on whether to close other meetings.

Griffith’s bill followed an advisory opinion by Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore in which he declared the caucus sessions are not public meetings covered by the FOI Act. They should be public, though, if the members discuss an upcoming floor vote, Kilgore said.

The council works with residents and local governments providing training and advisory opinions about the application and interpretation of the FOI Act.

— Tyler Whitley, The Richmond Times-Dispatch