Our Alaska property tax assessor records search and directory has been updated for the following areas of Alaska:

Anchorage Borough property tax assessor.
Fairbanks North Star Borough property tax assessor.
Juneau Borough & City property tax assessor.
Kenai Peninsula Borough property tax assessor.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough property tax assessor.

Our directory of Alabama property tax assessor records sites has been updated for the following areas in Alabama:

Autauga County property tax assessor.
Baldwin County property tax assessor.
Blount County property tax assessor.
Calhoun County property tax assessor.
Chambers County property tax assessor.
Chilton County property tax assessor.
Clarke County property tax assessor.
Coffee County property tax assessor.
Colbert County property tax assessor.
Covington County property tax assessor.
Cullman County property tax assessor.
Dallas County property tax assessor.
DeKalb County property tax assessor.
Elmore County property tax assessor.
Escambia County property tax assessor.
Etowah County property tax assessor.
Houston County property tax assessor.
Jackson County property tax assessor.
Jefferson County property tax assessor.
Lauderdale County property tax assessor.
Lee County property tax assessor.
Madison County property tax assessor.
Marion County property tax assessor.
Marshall County property tax assessor.
Mobile (city) property tax assessor.
Mobile County property tax assessor.
Monroe County property tax assessor.
Montgomery County property tax assessor.
Morgan County property tax assessor.
Perry County property tax assessor.
Pickens County property tax assessor.
Pike County property tax assessor.
Randolph County property tax assessor.
Russell County property tax assessor.
Shelby County property tax assessor.
St. Clair County property tax assessor.
Talladega County property tax assessor.
Tallapoosa County property tax assessor.
Tuscaloosa County property tax assessor.
Walker County property tax assessor.
Wilcox County property tax assessor.
Winston County property tax assessor.

A county Commissioner in Escambia County, Florida has been charged with a violation of Florida public records law violation for not turning over requested emails on time.

Florida State Attorney Bill Eddins reviewed complaints that Commissioner Gene Valentino violated Florida’s public records laws by delaying the release of the emails.

According to a press release from Eddins office:

“This review has determined that sufficient facts exist to believe that Commissioner Valentino did fail to timely or completely respond to a public records request and as a result has been charged with one count of violation of the Public Records Law.”

The public record violation allegations arose after a meeting between Gene Valentino and Pensacola City Councilman Sam Hall on April
28, 2009 occurrred in a private office in the City Hall building.

Commissioner Valentino and Councilman Hall are both voting members on the Pensacola-Escambia Promotion and Development
Commission ( PEDC ). The PEDC is a quasi-government entity that was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1967. The purpose of the PEDC is to promote economic development in Escambia County, Florida. Meetings of the PEDC are subject to Florida public records law and the state’s Sunshine Law.

Florida’s Sunshine Law applies to any meeting of two or more members of the same board to discuss issues that will potentially come before the board for a vote. At the time of the meeting, Commissioner Valentino and Councilman Hall did not believe that the economic development plan being worked on by Gene Valentino would come before the PEDC for action.

The public records law violation is a non-criminal offense that is punishable by a fine up to $500. Commissioner Valentino will appear in court regarding the charge on August 27, 2009.

Source: NorthEscambia.com

The following state public records searches have been updated on the Skipease site and can be accessed at Public Records:

• Alabama Public Records
• Alaska Public Records
• Arizona Public Records
• Arkansas Public Records
• California Public Records
• Colorado Public Records
• Connecticut Public Records
• DC – Washington DC Public Records
• Delaware Public Records
• Florida Public Records
• Georgia Public Records
• Hawaii Public Records
• Idaho Public Records
• Illinois Public Records
• Indiana Public Records
• Iowa Public Records
• Kansas Public Records
• Kentucky Public Records
• Louisiana Public Records
• Maine Public Records
• Maryland Public Records
• Massachusetts Public Records
• Michigan Public Records
• Minnesota Public Records
• Mississippi Public Records
• Missouri Public Records
• Montana Public Records
• Nebraska Public Records
• Nevada Public Records
• New Hampshire Public Records
• New Jersey Public Records
• New Mexico Public Records
• New York Public Records
• North Carolina Public Records
• North Dakota Public Records
• Ohio Public Records
• Oklahoma Public Records
• Oregon Public Records
• Pennsylvania Public Records
• Rhode Island Public Records
• South Carolina Public Records
• South Dakota Public Records
• Tennessee Public Records
• Texas Public Records
• Utah Public Records
• Vermont Public Records
• Virginia Public Records
• Washington Public Records
• West Virginia Public Records
• Wisconsin Public Records
• Wyoming Public Records

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen recently signed into law revised and updated rules for the state’s public records policies.

The new public records law puts the duties of Tennessee’s open records ombudsman into law and establishes a seven-day deadline for records custodians to respond to public records requests — or they need to explain why more time is needed to fill the records requested.

The new public records law also requires the ombudsman’s office to develop a reasonable fee schedule for large public records requests.

The Public Records Act states that all state, county and city public records need to be available for review by any Tennessee citizen — unless the record is restricted by law.

There are currently hundreds of records exemptions in the law, like: medical records, private military documents as well as Tennessee investigative records.

Source: Associated Press

A new open public records website launched by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget called USASpending.gov provides a searchable database of federal spending on contracts and grants.

The Contracts section of USAspending.gov lets users to search for public record information regarding all federal contracts.

You can search contracts and grants by contractor name, geographic location and by the contracting agencies.

You can visit the site @ USASpending.gov

A bill introduced in the North Carolina Senate would award legal fees to people or groups who win public records lawsuits against government departments and agencies.

Current North Carolina state law allows a judge to award legal fees to plaintiffs in public records lawsuit, but doesn’t require it. The proposed law would entitle successful plaintiffs to these attorney fees.

While judges currently can award legal fees, doing so is the exception to the rule.

Most states either provide for the automatic awarding of these legal fees in open public records cases or provide for criminal penalties for violations of open records laws.

North Carolina law currently allows for neither of these.

The bill would also create an Open Government Unit in the North Carolina Department of Justice.

The new public records legislation was prompted over a legal dispute involving a North Carolina newspaper. In that lawsuit, the newspaper won, but was left responsible for their $50,000 legal bill.

Source: TheTimesNews.com

A New Jersey state appellate court has upheld a public records fee of $1,900 for government records that were requested by a freelance journalist because several attorneys were needed to assist with the request.

Journalist Janon Fisher fought the fee, but the court decided that the charge was reasonable. The court said the state Attorney General’s Office had legitimate reasons for assigning five attorneys to collect and review the public records that were requested.

In a 3-0 decision, the court panel wrote that the Attorney General’s office “reasonably determined that those attorneys could identify the records responsive to the OPRA request and any privileged parts of those records more expeditiously and reliably than clerical staff.”

New Jersey state attorneys spent 52.5 hours to search and review thousands of e-mail communications and other state records to locate the requested documents. The total cost to fill the public records request was $1,877.93. The cost of the public records request was determined by multiplying the total hours by the hourly wage of the lowest-salaried deputy attorney general, which is $35.77 an hour.

The appellate court panel found that in addition to copying costs, New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act allows for a public agency to impose a “special services charge” if production of the records involves “an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort.”

New Jersey state attorneys said that Fisher’s records request took the state nearly two years to complete and included the review of more than 15,000 emails and electronic files.

Source: NewsDay.com

This is an election year – a time when public records requests on politicians and candidates peaks. Wisconsin’s WCCO is reporting on a story involving that state’s Republican Party and its filing of a public records requests on a Democrat county supervisor.

A spokesman for the Wisconsin Republican Party, Kirsten Kukowski, confirmed to WCCO that a request has been made for two years of public records on Brown County Supervisor Jack Krueger.

The public records request is seeking to obtain all communications, including, e-mails, phone records and document files involving Krueger from April 15, 2006 to the present.

Krueger is a member of the Brown County Democratic Party and former chairman of Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District Democrats.

Krueger says that he has no idea what the public records request is ultimately after.

Krueger is also the vice chairman of the Brown County Board. He plans to run for board chairman when the new County Board meets on April 15. Kukowski hopes the public records request will be filled before Krueger takes on any new position.

According to Lynn Vanden Langenberg, director of Brown County’s administration department, most of the requested records have been gathered and sent to Brown County Corporation Counsel John Jacques.

Jacques will review the records, like he does with all public records requests, and then Krueger will review them.

By law, there is a three-day period for elected public officials to review public records that are requested about themselves and make clarifications to those records.

Source: WCCO.com

The Tennessean is reporting on the growing complexity of public records law in Tennessee and the increasing difficulty involved in obtaining public records in that state.

Tennessee opened government records to the general public in 1957, but lawmakers and judges have taken steps over the last 50 years to close many of those records.

There are currently more than 250 exemptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act on the books.

Proponents of public records argue it should not be easy to close public records in Tennessee. They believe that the exemptions are broadly written, which enables needless government secrecy.

There is even a bill moving through the Tennessee state legislature that would close public records that identify citizens licensed to carry handguns.

The executive director for the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, Frank Gibson, says, “any special interest who has a friend in the legislature can get records closed fairly easily.”

According to Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, Tennessee, compared with other states, falls in the middle in terms of the way it closes public records.

Davis points out that Florida has nearly 1,000 closed records. Although the number seems high, Davis claims that Florida should serve as a model for other states, because each exemption is extremely narrow and specifies the exact part of the record that is being closed from public access. Specific criteria must be met in order for a public record in Florida to be closed.

In comparison, Tennessee public records can be entirely closed when only a small piece of information should be kept secret.

Public records laws differ from state to state, however, it is generally accepted that secret information such as a person’s financial records or medical records should be off limits to the public.

In addition, information on national security or trade secrets are considered closed records. It’s also generally understood that law enforcement professionals need to keep investigations secret while the case is open.

However, some public records exemptions aren’t easy to excuse.

In Tennessee, morbidity and mortality records on nursing home residents is kept confidential.

Gibson says that educating the public on the importance of open records is one of the biggest challenges to changing public records laws.

“The problem is, citizens do not seem too concerned until it is an issue that involves them,” says Gibson. “If it’s emotional enough, like the gun issue, you’re able to argue, ‘Hey, there’s states giving gun permits to convicted felons — are you sure you want to close this?”

Source: The Tennessean