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You may have noticed a new look to the blog as of this post. I'm playing around with different looks--please feel free to let me know if the one I have currently is better than the last one (black background, white printing). Plus, as this is blog dedicated to the FOIA, what can be better than a city scape (purportedly) of Washington, D.C.
According to this article in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Courier, changes to the Iowa Public Records law have failed for the 2008 legislative session. The changes were close to being passed before being pulled last weekend. Opposition came from local governments and republicans who were worried about a flood of requests. Requests that, I would think, would be to inform the citizens about what the governments were doing with the requesters tax dollars. Ironic.
Kimo Crossman of the San Francisco Bay Guardian has this article about using technology to assist in government transparency. While not all of the suggestions deal with FOIA issues, some do, and agencies would do themselves a favor to think about them.
The American Society of Access Professionals ("ASAP") has announced its Summer School session for FOIA training. The training will take place at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A number of topics are included and ASAP membership is not needed to attend.
According to DCRTV.com, Rebecca Carr is leaving Cox Newspapers to work for the D.C. area law firm, Patton Boggs. Rebecca covered national security issues and wrote a number of articles about the FOIA. Her leaving creates a large void in the national media covering FOIA issues. I, for one, wish her luck in her future career.
The American Small Business Leagues is a frequent critic, watchdog and FOIA requester to the Small Business Association. The ASBL now claims that the SBA is delaying the release of e-mails it requested from the SBA's Public Affairs Office. The ASBL is threatening litigation (it currently has a number of FOIA lawsuits against the SBA)
Regardless of the merits of the case, it always amazes me how tone deaf agencies are. The SBA knows this will likely end up in costly and time consuming litigation, so why aren't they taking steps to comply with the request without giving the ASBL any reason to sue or even publicize the SBA's alleged missteps in complying with the request? (Since the SBA has not commented, I'm not sure that they aren't, but that is the picture the ASBL paints). The SBA is welcome to comment here.
The CIA has proposed these new updated FOIA regulations. According to the CIA they more accurately reflect the structure of the agency as of today. Interested parties have until May 19, 2008 to respond to the CIA with questions and concerns about the new regulations.
I must commend the CIA for, at the very least, being the first agency to actually update regulations in the wake of the passage of the 2007 FOIA Amendments.
Update: The link should now be working.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued this press release concerning its decision to appeal the decision in the case of Consumers Checkbook, Center for the Study of Services v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In its press release the government characterizes the case as this "In 2006, the Consumers Checkbook organization sought raw Medicare claims data under the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) that would reveal all procedures performed by physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Washington during 2004. HHS denied this request, based on existing law, and Consumer Checkbook brought suit. In August 2007, a federal court in the District of Columbia ordered HHS to release the data."
Of course this press release glosses over the reasons the court ordered the information released. Instead of appealing court orders that reflect the transparency of its operations, HHS should be focusing on overall FOIA operations. (My original write up of the case can be found here.) The government can start by taking a look at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") FOIA Operations--they have a small number of analysts working on a large number of requests without any support from top HHS or CMS officials. And rather than aiding and abetting HHS by appealing their losses, the Department of Justice can work with HHS to improve those same FOIA operations.
Rebecca Carr has this on the GAO's recent report on FOIA performance. According to Carr, the deficiencies of the agencies to reduce backlogs has the ear of Sen. John Cornyn (R. TX.).
Not to beat a dead horse, but I don't see any talk of increased funding specifically for FOIA programs from the Senator or anyone else. Which, I have been saying, is really the only way to reduce backlogs across the board.
It is being reported that the sentencing recommendation of the government on Wesley Snipes includes the fact that he and his co-defendants made frivolous FOIA requests to the IRS. It is very rare for the government to make this assertion, especially because FOIA requests may usually be made for any reason to the government. It will be interesting to see what the court states to this specific assertion by the government.
Update: Thanks to reader PLW for catching my mistake in the title (I originally had Snapes rather than Snipes). Of course, Snape wouldn't FOIA the muggle government, he would just put a curse on them!
