Brechner News

We have been hearing from government agencies that they are receiving more requests that appear to be written or sent via artificial intelligence – and poorly written at that. Federal agencies called out the Heritage Foundation, in particular. So, we at Brechner ran a quick little inquiry.

Michigan Senator Roger Victory recently introduced a bill that would remove all fees for public records requests if the requester picks them up. Under this change, agencies could only charge if the request causes them unavoidable overtime.

Last month, a New Jersey assemblyman introduced a bill that would require county-level public bodies to set aside time for public comment in their meetings. In January, he pre-filed a separate bill that would apply the same to school boards and municipal level bodies.

A bill was introduced in New Jersey that would ban all commercial public record requests. New Jersey Senator James Beach proposed the same change in the 2024-2025 legislative session, but it didn't make it past introduction.

Today 142 nations with public record laws are celebrating International Right to Know Day, focused on a conference of information commissioners held today and tomorrow in Sierra Leone, Africa.

A bill in Rhode Island would have banned anonymous public records requests, requiring that each request contain at least a name and email or mailing address. The bill died in the legislature after being held for further study.

A.Jay Wagner, an associate professor of journalism and media studies at the Marquette University Diederich College of Communication, has been appointed editor of the Journal of Civic Information.

New Jersey recently introduced a bill that would require agencies to black out any handwritten signatures on documents before uploading them to the web.

A bill enrolled in California will change the required response time for public records requests from 10 days to 10 business days. Previous versions of the bill would have also allowed agencies to charge additional fees for commercial requests and go to court against requesters they believed had "malicious intent." 

Two Miami high school seniors have launched Miami-Dade Commission Watch to help the public monitor local government through meeting summaries and agenda highlights. Conrad Gelber, attending Miami Beach High School, and Daniel Llobet, attending the Samuel Wolfson School for Advanced Studies, are enlisting fellow high school students in their county…

A bill making its way through the California legislature would require reports from data centers to be public. The bill recently passed both chambers and should soon go to the governor.

Maine agencies can file for an "action for protection" against public records requesters, and a recent legislative change expanded the time they have to do it.