Secrecy Tracker

A bill making its way through the Louisiana legislature would exempt student athletes’ compensation from public disclosure. Under state public records law, general information about university athletics financials are public. But this bill would exempt details such as payments for a specific student or sport. Negotiations would be private as…

New Jersey is debating changing its public records law to prevent exploitative police body cam footage from being posted online. “It has come to the sponsor’s attention that bad actors have been taking advantage of the State’s open public records law in order to exploit on social media young women…

Pennsylvania is debating a bill that would bar public officials from signing non-disclosure agreements relating to the development of a data center. Louisiana lawmakers recently made the news for doing the same – a move that the Louisiana Illuminator said was a new tactic. The Pennsylvania bill would amend the…

A group of Maryland inspectors general are asking to be granted special access to public records that would normally be exempt from disclosure. In February, the state attorney general’s office advised records custodians to treat the inspectors the same as any other requester. “Fundamental to our work is having unrestricted…

A proposed bill in Illinois would exempt from disclosure junk mail that the government might receive. HB0021, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Didech, would update the statute’s definition of a “public record” to exclude “junk mail,” defined as “any unsolicited commercial mail sent to a public body and not responded to…

Police in the middle of official duties would have been exempted from accepting public records requests, if a proposed amendment had gone through to Florida’s public records law. The bill passed two committees but died in the judiciary committee last month. House Bill 627 would have allowed law enforcement officers…

Indiana passed a law making several changes to its Access to Public Records Act, including anti-scraping, anti-outsider and anti-automation measures. Agencies can now use CAPTCHAs on portals or require a requestor’s address, including whether or not they are a state resident. The text of the bill suggests it is concerned…

An Illinois lawmaker has put forth a bill, SB 1357, called “FOIA-ABUSE BY OFFICIAL” that is currently in committee. Michael Hastings, the sponsoring legislator, declined to comment on what prompted him to propose the bill that targets local officials misusing FOIA. “An elected official of a unit of local government shall…

A bill in Connecticut would allow agencies to ignore threatening or harassing public record requests for up to three years. Senate Bill 466, titled “An Act Concerning Vexatious Requesters Under the Freedom of Information Act, passed out of committee a few weeks ago (on a 13-6 vote). Current law allows…

The Illinois Legislature has an astonishing 22 bills in its current session revolving around the topic of burdensome public records requests. That is far more than most states, which typically have a few such bills, according to research by Samantha Sunne of the Brechner FOI Project. Six of the bills…

A group of public information advocates is proposing an easier alternative to resolve denied public records requests in Idaho. Earlier this month, the Idaho Press Club proposed a bill that would create a new process akin to a “small claims” court, the Idaho Statesman reports. Under current law, requesters’ only…

Leading data journalist, educator and trainer Samantha Sunne will coordinate the Brechner FOI Project’s national Secrecy Tracker, monitoring legislation across the nation related to public records and open meetings, synthesizing trends, and educating advocates and policy makers. Sunne (pronounced “Sunny”) is co-author of the textbook “Data + Journalism: A Story-Driven…