Latest news with #HouseBill3412
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
West Virginia Senate passes bill changing Freedom of Information Act
The West Virginia Senate passed a bill that would change parts of the state's Freedom of Information Act, on Friday, April 11, 2025. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) 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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WV House passes FOIA bill with narrow vote. Bill next goes to the Senate.
The House of Delegates approved House Bill 3412 Wednesday with a vote of 58 to 42 on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The bill would allow the Legislature to adopt its own rules for the disclosure of public documents. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The West Virginia House of Delegates has narrowly passed a bill that would allow the Legislature to set its own rules for disclosing public records. Delegates approved House Bill 3412 with a 58 to 42 vote Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, if it adopts its own rules. Some of the discussion included concerns over FOIA requests bogging down the Legislative staff's workload. A search of the Secretary of State's Office's FOIA database show that, so far this year, five FOIA requests have been made of the Senate and none had been made of the House of Delegates. Lawmakers who opposed the legislation included Del. Larry Kump, R-Berkeley, who said the bill was the subject of lots of feedback from his constituents. Some of the commentary was that lawmakers who support the bill should not campaign on transparency, and that the public has a right to know what delegates are doing. 'Perhaps the best way I can say it is, I do not like this bill,' Kump said. 'I do not like it. I do not like it at all. Foxes should not be guarding the hen house. I think this bill should fall.' The Freedom of Information Act allows journalists, researchers and members of the public to obtain access to lawmakers' emails, presentations and more that can shed light on how decisions are being made. The emails can reveal what lobbyists or special interest groups are involved in bill making. Some communications are exempt. Current state FOIA law does not differentiate between the state's court system, the executive branch and the Legislature, Hanshaw told lawmakers when the Rules Committee took up the bill. He told Rules Committee members individuals often use FOIA to access drafts of bills that are never introduced. Hanshaw wants the House to write rules that make it clear to the public what is and is not a public record. Ann Ali, deputy chief of staff and communications director for the House of Delegates, said previously that the intent of the bill is not to hide public records and that Hanshaw wants any legislative records currently available to the public to remain available to the public. The bill states that the Freedom of Information Act stays in effect unless the Legislature enacts its own rules, said Del. Clay Riley, who presented the bill Wednesday. Dels. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, raised concerns about what recourse people who request information but don't get it would have under a legislative rule. Under current law, the person could file a lawsuit for the information. Riley said he couldn't answer the 'hypothetical question,' because the rules have not been passed yet. Hansen said he had concerns about the bill. 'There are no guardrails on the rulemaking process other than the fact that we vote on it,' he said. 'We could pass a rule that's similar to what the current statute is. We could pass a rule that's very different and protects all of our records from public disclosure, and that's not right. We should play by the same rules as everybody else in government.' Riley disagreed with the assertion that the law is more transparent than legislative rules. He pointed to the House making available audio archives of committee meetings as examples of the House being transparent. 'Every vote, every committee meeting, is open to the public,' he said. 'You know, this is a process of where we have the ability to clarify in our rules of which we govern ourselves what is and what isn't, a legislative record. All executive branch documents are not like all legislative branch documents, and for that, Mr. Speaker, I urge passage.' The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
West Virginia House of Delegates considers changes to public records access
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, lead sponsor of House Bill 3412, explains to lawmakers how his bill would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Charleston, (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The West Virginia House of Delegates is considering a bill that would allow the Legislature to write its own rules for disclosing public records, but House Speaker Roger Hanshaw said the intent is not to hide records. Journalists, researchers and members of the public 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. The emails can reveal what lobbyists or special interest groups are involved in bill making. Some communications are exempt. House Bill 3412, sponsored by Hanshaw, R-Clay, would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, if it adopts its own rules. The House Rules Committee reviewed the measure Wednesday. Current state FOIA law does not differentiate between the state's court system, the executive branch and the legislature, Hanshaw said. He told committee members individuals often use FOIA to access drafts of bills that are never introduced. FOIA laws have existed since 1966. Hanshaw wants the House to write rules that make it clear to the public what is and is not a public record. 'One of the objections sought to be achieved by this particular piece of legislation is clarification of what is and isn't a legislative record that can actually be reachable by those who simply seek access to legislative records,' he said. Doug Skaff, interim director of the West Virginia Press Association, appeared before lawmakers to question if the bill would affect journalists' access to legislative records. 'We just want to make sure that these laws provide a legal basis and a framework that government records, meetings and all the doings within the public body of this Capitol is available to recognized media outlets in this state,' Skaff said. 'We think we owe it to the people of West Virginia to discuss and spread the information that happens under this dome.' Hanshaw said that he views the media as partners who disseminate the information about what happens at the Capitol. 'We think we have a pretty constructive relationship with our media partners right now … we realize that the press is not the only user of the Freedom of Information statute,' Hanshaw said. 'We would be supportive as long as it doesn't restrict the right of the media to do their job,' Skaff responded. Ann Ali, deputy chief of staff and communications director for the House of Delegates, said in an email that the intent of the bill is not to hide public records and that Hanshaw wants any legislative records currently available to the public to remain available to the public. 'However — the intent is also to exempt the Legislature from FOIA and to adopt open records rules the Legislature would follow, because there may be instances when FOIA doesn't fit the specifics of what the Legislature is or does,' she said. If the change is adopted, people would cite a rule rather than the Freedom of Information Act in a request for public documents, she said. While House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle has concern about the bill, he feels that it would still permit the media to access records for reporting. 'It appears it has to do more with people outside the state who might have ulterior motives. I do feel better [about it],' said Hornbuckle, D-Cabell. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia also has concerns with the bill. 'First the Senate limited recording in the chamber. Then, the House did away with public hearings. Now they want to exempt the Legislature entirely from open records laws,' ACLU-WV Advocacy Director Rusty Williams said in a statement. 'They won't be satisfied until they're passing their harmful, extremist agenda entirely in private. Enough is enough. We have a right to know what our elected leaders are up to.' In order for the change to go into effect, the bill would first have to become law. Next, the House would have to create then adopt its own rules in order for the new FOIA rules to go into effect. Without a rule, the default would be the current FOIA statute, Hanshaw said. The Senate could adopt the rules to become regulations that apply to both bodies, according to Hanshaw. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
