The Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Virginia's FOIA: The Law

Virginia's FOIA: Resources / Help

Virginia's FOIA: Opinions

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More resources are available at
the Va. Freedom of Information
Advisory Council, Virginia's
full-time FOI compliance office

Welcome to the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. We are a nonprofit alliance formed to promote expanded access to government records, meetings and other proceedings at the state and local level. Our efforts are focused solely on local/state information access.

P.O. Box 2576 • Williamsburg, VA 23187 • 540-353-8264 • vcog@opengovva.org

Current Headlines

Post-McBurney commentary: VCOG Board of Directors member Mark Caramanica talks to On the Media about the ramifications of the Supreme Court's ruling on state citizenship & the Freedom of Information Act. (May 6, 2013)
Sunshine Report for May 2013:
The May 2013 edition of the Sunshine Report is online with stories about the U.S. Supreme Court's FOIA ruling, a case on cameras in the courtroom, FOIA Council updates and open government news. (May 1, 2013)
U.S. Supreme Court upholds FOIA's citizenship limitation: In a unanimous decision handed down April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Virginia FOIA provision that limits its use to Virginia citizens only is constitutional. Read the opinion here. Or view a round-up of articles and editorials. (April 29, 2013)

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Most Recent Legal Opinions on FOIA

FOI Advisory Opinion AO-02-13: FOIA is silent regarding the logistics of holding a public meeting. In a situation where the meeting room lacks the capacity to accommodate all those who wish to attend, the best practice is to move to a larger venue and use technology to increase public access, when possible. (March 20, 2013)
FOI Advisory Opinion AO-01-13: Generally, records submitted by a private company to a state agency as required by regulation are public records subject to FOIA. Marking such records proprietary and confidential does not, by itself, make them exempt from mandatory disclosure; records are only exempt if there is a specific provision of law that allows them to be withheld. (January 7, 2013)

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Making Your FOIA Life Easier

A seminar for state and local records managers at the Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad St., Richmond
Thursday, May 30, 2013
9:00 - 12:00
$15/person

Click here for a paper registration form OR
register below
(note: you do NOT need a PayPal account to use the PayPal payment page)

Recent Blog Posts

My public record: I'm mad as heck at McBurney opinion:
(May 1, 2013)
When business and government don't mix:
(April 1, 2013)
Public input was CHP bill casualty:
(March 22, 2013)
More public discourse, not less:
(October 15, 2012)
Get into the FOIA spirit:
(October 8, 2012)

Go To FOI Blog >>

Upcoming Events

May 20 FOIA Council Subcommittee on Rights & Responsibilities
May 20 FOIA Council Subcommittee on Electronic Meetings
May 30 Making Your FOIA Life Easier - a records management seminar

How Many Clicks?

VCOG surveyed all 134 Virginia counties and independent cities and asked,
"How many clicks does it take to get to your local budget?"
Now, click the owl and find out how YOUR locality ranked.

Drive your open government pride

Show your FOIA pride!
Get the new FOIA car magnet.
$5/each

foia

Looking for federal FOIA info?

Click here for a primer on federal FOIA prepared by the Justice Department.

Our Members

VCOG is proud of its 2011-12 members. Click here to see who is supporting open government in Virginia. And click here to see which members of the General Assembly have made the commitment to open government in Virginia!

VCOG is proud to support the Virginia Public Access Project, which relies on public records to present new ways of discovering the relationship between money and politics in Virginia.

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