Transparency News, 2/24/2022

 

 

Thursday
February 24, 2022

There was no newsletter yesterday, Feb. 23, but then again, there was. See note below.
 

state & local news stories

 

VCOG's annual
bill chart

 

There WAS a newsletter yesterday, but the email distribution service was down and I couldn't send it out. I posted it online and sent the link out on our Twitter and Facebook pages. If you ever miss a newsletter or wonder whether there was a newsletter that day and you just somehow missed it, you can always check our website for that day's posting. Here's the link to yesterday's newsletter.

Yesterday, the Senate General Laws Committee heard several House bills dealing with FOIA. The most controversial of them (HB 734), after more than a half-hour of discussion and testimony, was passed by for the week, meaning it won't get an up or down vote until the committee meets again on March 1. I testified in opposition to the bill, and on my hour's-long drive home, I kept replaying some of the things said by supporters of the bill that I wish I'd been able to respond to. So, I did the next best thing and wrote a blog post about it. You can read it here.

All of the other bills advanced on unanimous or near-unanimous votes.

HB 150 -- requires online posting of local governing board minutes
HB 307 -- requires government to tell records requesters they can get an estimate. 
HB 970 -- this bill would shield names of donors to 501(c) charitable organizations. My most pressing concerns have been addressed in the amendment.
HB 1303 -- says that votes taken by the Parole Board are subject to disclosure under FOIA.

A Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court judge has dismissed a removal petition, with prejudice, filed against a school board member who a group of parents alleged failed to provide in-person learning for all students during the pandemic. The recall effort to unseat Springfield school board representative Laura Jane Cohen concluded Wednesday, when Judge Richard E. Gardiner wrote that the petition “is not based on facts sufficient to show probable cause for removal.” Michael Caudill, the special prosecutor appointed to the case, filed the motion to dismiss. The group Open FCPS Coalition, which identifies itself as a “bi-partisan, grassroots, volunteer group of concerned parents and citizens,” filed the petition in December. It alleged that Cohen, who was elected in 2019, ignored local and national health guidance when she “voted to keep all Fairfax County Public Schools closed” during fall 2020.
WTOP

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