Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Va. would do well to revisit FOIA
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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In their settlement with Virginia Tech, families of victims in last year's shooting rampage wanted the university to release key details to the public.
But some of that may forever be unknown to the public.
You might have thought that the Virginia Freedom of Information Act would compel the release of such material -- after all, that's what the law's for, right?
Not exactly. Enacted with the best intentions back in 1968, the law has been crammed with exemptions. They number about 150 and consume way more paper and ink than the law itself.
Some of the law's advocates believe it's working. They note that the exemptions are narrow in scope and also give officials discretion to disclose.
But the type of nondisclosable information includes the ridiculous. If you care to know the number of apples the state produces, you might be out of luck. The information is exempt from the FOIA.
Curious about the list of subscribers to Virginia Wildlife, a magazine published by the state Game and Inland Fisheries department? There's a specific provision that allows the state to withhold that, too.
It's time Virginia lawmakers revisit the law created to make government and public institutions more accessible and accountable to the people.
The FOIA is thoroughly vetted about every 10 years. Lawmakers went through it in 1988-89 and again in 1998-99, according to Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association.
"There have been a lot of good steps taken," said Frosty Landon, former executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
"Some of them are silly. There's not many, and they may have slipped through in the middle of the night," added the retired Roanoke Times editor.
Virginia created a Freedom of Information Act in 1968, two years after President Johnson signed the federal law.
Landon said the law's exemptions were very broad in the first decade or so. But the exemptions have grown tighter and are written specifically to one agency so others can't use them.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch used FOIA to request documents given to the Tech families. The school withheld some from the public.
"My first thought was, 'That ain't going to sit well,' " said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, who first heard the news on a radio report. Griffith is a lawyer and a member of the FOIA advisory council.
He said on one hand if litigation is involved, or information identified an otherwise innocent person, the university might have a reason for withholding the information.
On the other hand, he said, "the public has the right to know."
