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Keeping information private
No fewer than 10 bills calling for exemptions from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act are currently before the Virginia legislature.The Virginia FOIA guarantees citizens and the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials and public employees.
According to the act, a public record is any writing or recording – regardless of whether it is a paper record, an electronic file, an audio or video recording or any other format – that is prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees or agents in the transaction of public business.
All public records are presumed to be open and may only be withheld if a specific, statutory exemption applies.
This year, five delegates and two senators are asking for 10 specific exemptions. The subjects of the exemptions vary from safeguarding fund-raising strategies and museum donor records to assisting the competitive advantage of business franchises that do business with the government by making their “trade secrets” exempt from public record.
Maria Everett, executive director of the General Assembly's Freedom of Information Act Council, said that some of this session's FOIA exemption bills came from local governing bodies and stem from very local issues.
An illustrative example of this, according to Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield), is personal information obtained from vehicle license plates.
“You got guys who see a pretty girl and they write down her plate number and then get her phone number that way,” he said. “Behavior like that can lead to an exemption request.”
Other bills, like one from Arlington Del. Adam Ebbin that seeks to exempt “any records of a publicly owned museum that can be used to identify an individual who donates or loans one or more items of personal property to the museum,” are wider in scope.
Another bill submitted this session does not call for a specific FOIA exemption, but instead seeks to change a requirement as it applies to FOIA and the Virginia Constitution.
Del. Tim Hugo (R-Centreville) submitted the bill, which seeks to overturn the current requirement that interim study committees of the General Assembly be assembled in one physical location to conduct a meeting instead of using electronic communications.
“The rule currently says that interim study committees cannot hold a meeting unless we are assembled in one physical location,” he told The Times. “This bill will give us some flexibility on that.”
Everett said that when she helps to draft a bill's language, she inserts “Freedom of Information Act” in its description.
“That makes it easily searchable without having to know much about the subject matter,” she said.
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