Sunshine Week 2022: A time to highlight the importance of open government work
It’s Sunshine Week! Time to celebrate transparency in government. Do you know where your open records are?
Amye Bensenhaver
Amye is a retired assistant AG who specialized in open records laws. She is the co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. (Read the rest of her bio on the Contributors page.)
Open Govt Coalition is still opposed to HB 453
Yesterday the House was told that the Open Govt Coalition supports HB 453, which removes incentives for government meetings to be in-person. The coalition wants to make it plain: they are still a No on the bill.
Open meetings: virtual or in-person? Why not both?
We’ve been Zooming for a while, but the Open Meetings law prefers in-person meetings. So – why not both at the same time?
SB 63: “A remarkably ill-conceived, unworkable, and fundamentally unnecessary bill”
SB 63 is another bill attacking our open records law. Amye Bensenhaver calls it out for what it is: unnecessary.
Want to appeal that LRC open records request? Good luck.
If the LRC refuses your records request, you appeal to ... the LRC. What chance do you have with your appeal? Slim to none.
Open Govt Coalition presents first annual Giblet Awards to KY lawmakers
In an unapologetic nod to columnist Joe Gerth, the KY Open Government Coalition presents its first annual Giblet Awards to lawmakers who brought us 2021’s “offal” legislative packages and side dishes of secrecy.
Open Government Coalition sues to protect access to records
A post from Amye Bensenhaver of the KY Open Government Coalition, explaining their recent open records lawsuit.
The Annotated Andy Wolfson
Some thoughts from the Open Government Coalition on the recent article about AG Cameron's attack on open records
UK vs The Kernel – closure and lessons
The Kentucky Kernel’s six-year legal battle with the University of Kentucky has come to an end. Here is a look at the final result, and what it showed.
Cameron is wrong: Public business on private devices is still a public record
Chances are we will soon see an explosion in the use of privately-owned devices by public officials and employees to conduct public business. The public’s right to know will be the first casualty of Cameron’s anything but “consistent” finding.
Trump can issue secret pardons. Can Beshear do the same?
Legal experts seem to agree that Donald Trump “can secretly pardon whomever he wants on his last night in office and have those ‘get out of jail free’ cards available if needed. Given the pardon granted Richard Nixon, the scope can be broad.” In a January 14 article, The Hill
If the George Floyd video had been taken in Kentucky, this bill would have kept us from seeing it.
Under a bill proposed in the 2020 General Assembly, bystander videos depicting acts of violence by police officers resulting in death would have been inaccessible in Kentucky if in the hands of a public agency.
Kentucky universities continue to hide behind FERPA
A law enacted in 1974 for the important purpose of protecting student privacy has been bastardized by some Kentucky universities to avoid accountability and evade their duty of candor to the public.
