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VIRGINIA
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
ADVISORY COUNCIL
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
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2004
Subcommittees and Workgroups
At
its March 29, 2004, meeting, the Virginia Freedom of Information
Advisory Council formed three subcommittees to review current
FOIA issues and legislation during the 2004 Interim. In addition
to establishing these subcommittees, the FOIA Council directed
staff to lead a workgroup to review issues of obsolete technology
nomenclature in FOIA.
1. HB 1357 (Griffith):
FOIA & The General Assembly
During
the 2004 Session, the General Assembly passed legislation
dealing with FOIA as applied to meetings of the General Assembly.
Specifically, the bill provides that floor sessions, committee
and subcommittee meetings, and conference committee meetings
are subject to FOIA, and that meetings of political party
caucuses are excluded from the meeting provisions of FOIA.
Access to all other meetings of the General Assembly will
be governed by rules established by the Joint Rules Committee.
The Joint Rules Committee must hold regional public hearings
concerning the proposed rules at least 60 days before the
adoption of the rules, and the rules must be adopted by a
majority of both houses. The bill directs the FOIA Council
to provide technical assistance, upon request, to the Joint
Rules Committee in establishing these rules.
The FOIA
Council established this subcommittee to work with the Joint
Rules Committee in providing whatever assistance may be requested.
In addition, the FOIA Council expressed an interest in studying
issues and questions raised by the bill about the application
of FOIA to the General Assembly and caucus meetings, generally.
Senator R. Edward Houck, chairman of the FOIA Council, Delegate
H. Morgan Griffith, vice-chairman of the FOIA Council, and
Council members Ralph L. "Bill" Axselle, J. Stewart
Bryan, and John B. Edwards were appointed to this subcommittee.
Meetings
Scheduled:
Thursday,
September 23, 2004 - 1:00 p.m.
General Assembly Building, Speaker's Conference Room, 6th
Floor
Meeting Summary
2. SB 182 (Blevins):
FOIA & Geographic Information Systems
SB 182
was referred to the FOIA Council for study by the 2004 Session
of the General Assembly. The bill would have created a FOIA
exemption for maps contained in a geographic information system
(GIS) that are developed from a combination of high-resolution
technologies and related proprietary data. The bill raised
issues warranting further study as to the nature of GIS records
generally, the scope of their use, and the possible need for
an exemption. Council members Tom M. Moncure and Roger C.
Wiley were appointed to this subcommittee.
Suggested
Legislation:
Robert
P. Skoff, Prince William County has suggested the addition
of a record exemption along the lines of the following: "GIS
data furnished to the local government by nongovernmental
entities in confidence or subject to a nondisclosure agreement."
Meetings
Scheduled:
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - 10:00 a.m.
General Assembly Building, House Redistricting Room, 2nd Floor
Meeting Summary
Tuesday,
July 13, 2004 - 11:00 a.m.
General Assembly Building, House Redistricting Room, 2nd Floor
Meeting Summary
Thursday,
September 16, 2004 - 10:00 a.m.
General
Assembly Building, House Redistricting Room, 2nd Floor
3. Electronic
Meetings and Notice
At the
March 29, 2004 meeting, the clerks of the House and Senate
raised questions about the practicality of the 30 days' notice
required for electronic meetings under § 2.2-3708 of
the Code of Virginia. The clerks also noted that while FOIA
does not require public bodies to post notice of its meetings
on the Internet, this is often the place that most people
look for meeting notice and asked if FOIA should be amended
to require such posting. The FOIA Council created a subcommittee
to examine and research the electronic issues raised by the
clerks' offices. Council members David Hallock, W. Wat Hopkins,
and E.M. Miller were appointed to this subcommittee.
Meetings
Scheduled:
Monday,
November 15, 2004 - 10:30 a.m.
General Assembly Building, 2nd Floor, Room 250
Proposed Draft
Meeting Summary
Tuesday,
May 25, 2004 - 2:30 p.m.
General Assembly Building, 2nd Floor, Room 250
Meeting Summary
Wednesday,
July 7, 2004 - 2:00 PM
Richmond - General Assembly Buildingg, 3 East Conference Room
Blacksburg - Durham Hall, Room 463, VA Tech (Video Conference)
Proposed Draft for discussion at meeting
Meeting Summary
4. Technology
Nomenclature Workgroup
The FOIA
Council directed its staff to lead a workgroup to identify
obsolete technology nomenclature in FOIA and to make recommendations
for change to the FOIA Council. Participation in this workgroup
is open to all interested parties, including representatives
of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), who
brought this issue to the FOIA Council's attention.
Meetings
Scheduled:
Tuesday, September 7, 2004 - 2:00 p.m.
General Assembly Building, 2nd Floor
Proposed
Legislation
Meeting Summary
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