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