Government Transparency

In Oklahoma, House Bill 2163, proposes the creation of a Public Access Counselor within the Office of the Attorney General to handle complaints related to denied public records.  According to reporting from the Oklahoma Voice, Republican House Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, who authored the bill, said he hopes this will…

Citizen Documenters’ summaries of public meetings are more readable and useful to the public than agency meeting minutes, according to a study by Nina Kelly, a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University, published in the Journal of Civic Information.  The Documenters Network is a program started in 2018 by City…

The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications will host the winners of the 2025 Brechner Freedom of Information Award, St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports and The Marshall Project, for a day of dialogue with students, faculty and the…

Iowa House representatives are moving forward with legislation that aims to increase training for local officials on open meetings and public record laws, and to raise penalties for open meeting violations According to a report from Iowa Capital Dispatch, the passing of House File 706 marks the second year that…

The Utah Legislature has received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Black Hole Award, a dubious honor that highlights significant violations of the public’s right to know. The award was presented for two new laws, Senate Bill 277 and House Bill 69, passed in the 2025 General Session that alter how…

The first Sunshine Fest March 19-20 enabled about 160 people from throughout the country – and also from Canada, Brazil and Ghana – to discuss solutions to the most pressing problems in government transparency.  The sold-out event was coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the…

Federal agencies should improve the FOIA process by utilizing data tools more effectively to identify records to proactively post, according to a white paper issued Feb. 24 by the Data Working Group of the Chief FOIA Officers’ Council.  The working group interviewed representatives from 10 federal agencies to find that…

Whistle blowers are a key component for the public to learn about what the government is up to, and a recent study in Public Administration found the best way to encourage government employees to do the right thing is to focus on the waste of tax dollars for the community…

A bill that could impose new fees and limitations on public records requests has advanced through its first committee in the New Mexico House. Orginially reported by the New Mexico Political Report, the bill, which was sponsored by democratic State Rep. Christine Chandler, passed with nearly unanimous support but has…

A recent study published in the Journal for Research in Applied Sciences and Biotechnology examined how government efficiency, transparency, and accountability in Afghanistan can enhance entrepreneurship. Researchers analyzed World Bank data and found that governments whose practices focus on improving efficiency, reducing corruption, and promoting transparency foster a more vibrant…

The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) has awarded the 2025 Brechner Freedom of Information Award to St. Louis Public Radio, APM Reports and The Marshall Project for their collaborative investigative project, “Unsolved.” This groundbreaking project has been…

A recent study in Indonesia highlights frustrations like those reported by public records requesters in the United States. The researcher of the study, “Citizens’ subjective experiences of public information disclosure: A human rights and transparency perspective,” conducted 10 in depth-interviews with individuals seeking government records to learn that people were…