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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
1999 SESSION
SB 1023 Freedom of Information.
Introduced by: William T. Bolling | all patrons ... notes | add to my profiles
SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)
Freedom of Information. Rewrites the Freedom of Information Act as follows: (i) clarifies the definitions of “public body” and “public records”; (ii) adds a requirement that public officials read and familiarize themselves with FOIA; (iii) clarifies the procedure to be used by public bodies in responding to FOIA requests; (iv) clarifies what charges may be assessed by a public body for supplying requested records; (v) clarifies that public records maintained by a public body in an electronic data processing system or database shall be made available to a requester at a reasonable cost; (vi) clarifies that the excision of exempt fields of information from a database or conversion of data from one available format to another is not the creation of a new public record; (vii) creates a new section within FOIA to deal exclusively with the release of criminal records; (viii) clarifies the scholastic records exemption; (ix) narrows the working papers exemption for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, members of the General Assembly, and other high-ranking government officials by defining (a) “working papers” as those records prepared by or for named public officials for their personal or deliberative use, and (b) “Office of the Governor” as the Governor; his chief of staff, counsel, director of policy, Cabinet Secretaries; and the Director of the Virginia Liaison Office; and those individuals to whom the governor has delegated his authority pursuant to § 2.1-39.1, and by providing that no record which is otherwise open to inspection shall be deemed exempt by virtue of the fact that it has been attached to or incorporated within any working paper or correspondence; (x) clarifies the exemptions for legal opinions of local government attorneys and legal memoranda compiled specifically for use in litigation; (xi) combines current exemptions for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the ABC Board, and the Department of Corrections relating to security manuals, surveillance techniques, and architectural/engineering drawings of their facilities, etc., into a single exemption; (xii) adds a requirement that notice of meetings of public bodies be placed in a prominent public location at which notices are regularly posted and in the office of the clerk or chief administrator of the public body, with the use of electronic postings encouraged; (xiii) narrows the real property open-meeting exemption to discussions or considerations of the acquisition (and not the condition or use) of real property; (xiv) clarifies the consultation with legal counsel exemption for open meetings by defining the term “probable litigation”; (xv) clarifies the procedure to be followed by a public body in convening in a closed session; (xvi) provides that in a FOIA enforcement action in general district court, a corporate petitioner may appear through its officer, director or managing agent without the assistance of counsel; (xvii) provides that in a FOIA enforcement action, the public body shall bear the burden of proof to establish an exemption by a preponderance of the evidence; and (xviii) increases the penalties for FOIA violations from a minimum a $25 to $100, and for a subsequent violation, from a minimum of $250 to $500 and increases the maximum penalty for a subsequent violation from $1,000 to $2,500. The bill contain numerous technical amendments.
FULL TEXT
- 01/19/99 Senate: Presented & ordered printed 991539620 pdf
- 01/26/99 Senate: Printed as engrossed 991539620-E pdf
- 02/15/99 House: Committee substitute printed 991603492-H1 pdf
- 03/04/99 Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1023ER) pdf
- 04/07/99 Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0703) pdf
AMENDMENTS
HISTORY
- 01/19/99 Senate: Presented & ordered printed 991539620
- 01/19/99 Senate: Referred to Committee on General Laws
- 01/20/99 Senate: Reported from General Laws with amd. (15-Y 0-N)
- 01/21/99 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- 01/21/99 Senate: VOTE: CONST. RDG. DISPENSED R (38-Y 0-N)
- 01/22/99 Senate: Read second time
- 01/22/99 Senate: Reading of amendment waived
- 01/22/99 Senate: Committee amendment agreed to
- 01/22/99 Senate: Passed by for the day
- 01/25/99 Senate: Passed by for the day
- 01/26/99 Senate: Read second time
- 01/26/99 Senate: Engrossed by Senate as amended
- 01/26/99 Senate: Printed as engrossed 991539620-E
- 01/27/99 Senate: Read third time and passed Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: VOTE: PASSAGE R (38-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: Rec. of passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: VOTE: RECONSIDER R (39-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: VOTE: PASSAGE R (39-Y 0-N)
- 01/27/99 Senate: Communicated to House
- 01/28/99 House: Placed on Calendar
- 01/29/99 House: Read first time
- 01/29/99 House: Referred to Committee on General Laws
- 02/08/99 House: Assigned to General Laws sub-committee: 2
- 02/15/99 House: Committee substitute printed 991603492-H1
- 02/15/99 House: Reported from General Laws with sub. (26-Y 0-N)
- 02/16/99 House: Read second time
- 02/17/99 House: Read third time
- 02/17/99 House: Committee substitute agreed to 991603492-H1
- 02/17/99 House: Engrossed by House - com. sub. 991603492-H1
- 02/17/99 House: Passed House with substitute (Block Vote (100-Y 0-N)
- 02/17/99 House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (100-Y 0-N)
- 02/19/99 Senate: Passed by for the day
- 02/22/99 Senate: Passed by for the day
- 02/23/99 Senate: Reading of substitute waived
- 02/23/99 Senate: House substitute agreed to by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- 02/23/99 Senate: VOTE: CONCUR HOUSE SUBSTITUTE (38-Y 0-N)
- 03/04/99 Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1023ER)
- 03/12/99 Senate: Enrolled
- 03/12/99 House: Signed by Speaker
- 03/15/99 Senate: Signed by President
- 03/28/99 Governor: Approved by Governor-Chapter 703 (effective 7/1/99)
- 04/07/99 Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0703)