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Virginia Freedom of Information Act database goes online
Private citizens, members of the media and government employees interested
in the free flow of information between the government and its people
need now look only as far as their PC. The Virginia Coalition for Open
Government (VCOG), a nonprofit group dedicated to securing access to public
records and public meetings, has assembled an electronic database of opinions
interpreting the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The website database contains more than 100 FOIA-related opinions. VCOG
plans to expand the database and to update it with new opinions.
The database can be reached through the following URL: http://www.opengovva.org/content/view/453/117/
Until now, someone wanting to read opinions about how FOIA should be used
and understood had to go to Virginia’s various courts or the Office
of the Attorney General. With VCOG’s new database, the opinions are
all in one place. The database can be searched, too, with an onsite search
engine (and is currently being linked to other search engines). All opinions
by the Supreme Court of Virginia are posted at the site. Posted opinions
by attorneys general currently date from 1985. If a significant circuit
court ruling is missing, or if users spot other omissions or errors or
have suggestions for further improvement, they are asked to contact VCOG.
The opinions are divided into general category headings. Each opinion
then has a brief summary of which source issued it (Supreme Court of Virginia,
a Virginia circuit court, or a Virginia Attorney General), the year it
was issued and what the opinion is about. Some opinions are at least partially
outdated because of Code of Virginia revisions. Researchers should refer
to a current and annotated Code of Virginia and all applicable case law
before drawing legal conclusions.
FOIA was passed in 1968 and has undergone several revisions since then.
As yet. there are no opinions interpreting the new provisions of the law,
but the database will be updated any time a FOIA-related opinion is issued.
The online archive was made possible by a grant from the National Freedom
of Information Coalition and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
For further information about the database or FOIA-related opinions, contact
Jennifer Perkins, executive director of VCOG, at (540) 353-8264, or Megan
Rhyne, research assistant, at (757) 253-0212.
The FOIA study committee's website is located at http://dls.state.va.us/hjr501.htm.
More information may be found at http://www.opengovva.org/index.php
An overview, with frequently asked FOI questions, is located at http://www.opengovva.org/content/view/821/117/
To join in a discussion of right-to-know issues, send an e-mail to OPENGOV-LIST-request@infi.net.
In the message window, type the word SUBSCRIBE (delete sig files or anything
else in the window).
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