West Virginia Senate passes bill changing Freedom of Information Act
The West Virginia Senate on Friday passed a bill that would change parts of the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Senators signed off on House Bill 3412 Friday with a vote of 25 to nine.
The Freedom of Information Act allows members of the public to access information and public records about the workings of government. Journalists, researchers and others use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to lawmakers' emails, presentations and more that can shed light on how decisions are being made.
As it passed the House of Delegates, the bill would have exempted the Legislature from the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, if it adopts its own rules. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, who sponsored the bill, said his intent was not to hide public documents, but to allow lawmakers to write its rules that make it clear to the public what is and is not a public record.
The Senate on Friday approved a new version of the bill from the Senate Government Organization Committee. Under that version, the Legislature is not exempt from FOIA.
The latest version of the bill would remove the requirement that the law be liberally construed in favor of disclosure. It provides that private personal information is not public record. Personal information includes banking and financial information, address and telephone numbers, date of birth, marital status, social security numbers as well as notes and journal entries containing opinions and more.
The bill also extends the deadline that custodians of public documents have to respond to FOIA requests from five days to 14 days. Agencies would be allowed to charge a 'reasonable search and retrieval fee' for the documents. Under the law currently, agencies may only charge for actual costs of copying the documents.
The Senate approved the bill with no discussion Friday. The bill will now go back to the House of Delegates for possible approval of the amended version of the bill.
The 60-day legislative session ends at midnight Saturday.
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