Editorial: Alabama jumped the gun on Sunshine Week. And that’s just fine by me.
What’s Sunshine Week, you ask? The journalism associations behind the mid-March event describe Sunshine Week as “a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and...
View ArticleBill restores open government protections
Alabamians who care about transparency in government should be pleased to see – and to support – legislation that will repair the damage done to the public good by three deeply disturbing decisions of...
View ArticleAlabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard's legal team files Freedom of Information...
Attorneys for House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court, seeking information about Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart. Hart is serving as...
View ArticleAlabama: Lawmakers seek to strengthen open meetings law
MONTGOMERY - The Alabama House on Tuesday passed legislation to tighten the state law requiring city councils, county commissions and other governing bodies to meet in public. The bill, which passed...
View ArticleAlabama planning open data portal update
Since first setting up an open data portal in 2009, anyone can get a look at Alabama’s government spending, down to state employee salaries. Now, state Chief Information Officer Brunson White said...
View ArticleAlabama 'dark money' donors may be revealed through bill seeking...
Alabamians may be deciding whether the sources of so-called "dark money" will have to be revealed after state Sen. Arthur Orr introduced a bill last month to put that question before voters in a...
View ArticleEditorial: Open meetings, secret meetings in Alabama
Each exception made to Alabama’s open-meetings laws leaves the door open for another. The best option are open-meetings laws that ensure public bodies operate fully in the open. If Sen. Gerald Dial’s...
View ArticleEditorial: Alabama Governor ran on 'transparency' but now demands silence
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley rolled into office on the promise of "transparency.""Transparency promotes government accountability, and as elected officials, we are held accountable for our decisions by...
View ArticleEditorial: End to 'dark money' would be good start
They call it “dark money” because it avoids the light of day. If the term sounds sinister to you, that’s because it is. And it has become the lifeblood of politics. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley knows a...
View ArticleHuntsville, AL: Closed records take toll on taxpayers
[Miranda] Spivack spearheaded a database project with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called State Secrets. The project examined open records laws across the country."Alabama is one of the most...
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