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Most Recent Legal Opinions on FOIA
- FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-07-09: Though generally local public bodies may not meet or cast votes by electronic means, a telephone conversation between an administrator and a single member of a public body is not a meeting subject to FOIA. (June 9, 2009)
- FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-06-09: Without a prior agreement, when a requester asks for records to be sent via e-mail, the government cannot bill the requester for the cost and mileage involved with delivering the records via certified mail. (June 9, 2009)
- Ostergren v. McDonnell (permanent injunction) - federal district court: Federal district court rules that privacy advocate BJ Ostergren may continue to publish the Social Security numbers of prominent persons, but not private ones, to protest current Virginia practices allowing land records with full SSNs to be published online. (June 3, 2009)
- FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-05-09: Boards of equalization are public bodies and are required to keep minutes of their meetings. Even before law takes effect July 1, 2009, minutes should be in writing. Audio recordings cannot be a substitute. Votes must be recorded, though those who vote need not be identified. (May 19, 2009)
- McBurney v. Mims (U.S. federal district court): U.S. District Court grants Attorney General's motion to dismiss in case challenging Virginia FOIA's restriction of its use to Virginia citizens only (i.e., a North Carolina resident has no right to file a request to receive records from Virginia state or local government). (May 18, 2009)
Current Headlines
- Supreme Court's anonymous juror proposal:
The Virginia Supreme Court is proposing rules to curtail access to juror names and information. Read more here, on VCOG's blog.
(June 12, 2009)
- No fines for Madison sheriff's FOIA violations:
A district court said the sheriff's refusal to turn over names of a citizen advisory panel's members was willful and fined the sheriff -- the first known FOIA fines in the state. A circuit court in April 2009 said the violation was not willful, negating both the fines AND the attorneys' fees. Read about the district court win, and about the circuit court case and an open letter from the plaintiff in the case to the vice chair of the FOI Advisory Council. Culpeper Star-Exponent editorial.
(April 28, 2009) - Sunshine Week 2009:
Podcast and commentary on using FOIA to track government revenue and expenditure. Find links to many more FOIA stories and commentary for Sunshine Week 2009 (and prior years) right here.
(March 16, 2009)
- Norfolk meeting may have violated FOIA:
AG's office and FOI Advisory Council say that when Norfolk City Council met for 70 minutes to discuss the indictments against three police officers, they may have violated FOIA. Read more on the Virginian-Pilot's Web site.
(December 5, 2008) - Lawsuits filed against Roanoke Sheriff and Radford City Council: Lawsuits filed against Roanoke Sheriff over mug shot-release policy, and against City of Radford over heavily redacted FOIA-request documents. (October 1, 2008)
- Va. Supreme Court: anti-spam law trashed: The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday, Sept. 12, overturned the conviction of a notorious AOL spammer, the first spamming defendant in the country to be convicted of a felony, saying the state junk e-mail law is too broad and violates the First Amendment. Read more on the Iconoclast Blog.
(September 15, 2008)
- Va. Supreme Court: wrongful death settlements public: The settlement terms of several wrongful death lawsuits brought in Spotsylvania County against a pharmaceutical company must be disclosed publicly and cannot be sealed in the court records, a Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday, Sept. 12. (September 15, 2008)
- State bar president has questions on Va. Supreme Court chief justice's order:
Letter from State Bar president Howard Martin to Supreme Court Chief Justice Leroy Hassell asking for clarification on certain points related to Hassell's request that the bar immediately stop posting adverse disciplinary results until the appeal time has expired. Virginia Lawyers Weekly article and Virginian-Pilot editorial.
(April 16, 2008) - Bristol Herald Carrier wins fees in FOIA/911 tape case: Bristol Herald Carrier wins fees in FOIA/911 tape case (July 15, 2007)
- Suffolk creates FOI office: Idea is to help citizens who want public records (January 22, 2007)
- Va. Supreme Court rules against Culpeper in FOIA case; $93,000 in fees awarded: The court unanimously reversed a Circuit Court decision that denied attorney fees and upheld a secret discussion of a school construction project. (September 15, 2006)
- FOIA triggered charter-flight disclosure: Citizen used FOIA to reveal $18,000 charter flight (March 4, 2006)
Ongoing Stories / Editorials
- Federal suit challenges Va. FOIA residency rule: A former Virginia citizen challenged the exclusionary nature of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Richmond’s federal court January 19. Virginia’s statute denies FOIA rights to anyone not a citizen of Virginia. Mark McBurney twice sought FOIA documents after Virginia’s Department of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) admitted mishandling his child support case. DCSE denied both requests, ostensibly because he was no longer a Virginia citizen. A similar federal court challenge against the exclusionary aspect of Delaware’s FOIA succeeded in 2006. (February 3, 2009)
- Concealed gun permit database debate: The General Assembly needs to strike a delicate balance in dealing with whether a list of concealed-carry holders should be public (April 10, 2007)
- David Poole: VPAP provides transparency for "anything goes" fund-raising (March 11, 2007)
- Transparency is a fundamental: Public reaction to The Washington Post stories highlighting the close personal ties of a small circle of Loudoun County's political, development and business leaders needs to be treated as something more than a political "gotcha" (March 3, 2007)
- Kaine, Bolling, McDonnell, Howell give us their views on open government: Top state officials join in our 10th anniversary observance (November 17, 2006)
- Virginia local governments have mixed record on latest FOIA requests:
Virginia journalists (without revealing they were journalists) asked for two weeks of e-mails from each county chairman or city mayor to their boards or city councils; the previous weekend's crime logs or reports from police or sheriff departments, and the fire inspection reports for two schools in each locality. Only 13 localities were in full compliance; Virginia Beach would have been, but the mayor doesn't use e-mail! For the full story, click here
(December 30, 2006) - Officials thumb nose at your right to know: Fairfax, Va. and Montgomery, Md. play games when asked for documents (June 23, 2006)
- General Assembly salutes us: FOIA Council presents commending resolution for VCOG's right-to-know work (June 13, 2006)
- PBS spotlights hatchery couple's FOI fight: Albrights' FOI fight spotlighted on PBS' NOW program (March 18, 2006)
- Albright v DGIF – a look back: Virginia's FOIA helps two retired professionals spur changes at DGIF (January 1, 2006)
- Sunshine needed for interim appointments: Keeping the supervisor interview process closed is a bad way to get 100-percent 'voter' turnout. (February 2, 2006)
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Special Notice |
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- NEW MEMBERS:
See which candidates and elected officials have made the commitment to open government in Virginia!
- VCOG'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government will hold its 2009 annual conference on Oct. 15-16 at Staunton's historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel, where we will announce the winners of our FOI awards. Click here for information on nominating someone for one of these awards.
- VCOG'S SOCIAL MEDIA:
Follow VCOG's Twitter page: twitter.com/opengovva
We're also on Facebook (search Groups for Va. Coalition for Open Government) and YouTube (VaCo4OpGo)
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