Iowa transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Iowa.
 | ||||
| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
Cedar Rapids, Iowa school employee charged with embezzlement
In Iowa, Cedar Rapids police say the 42-year-old May has been charged with first degree theft following an investigation.
May works in business services and is responsible for cash receipts. The district released that the police department made them aware of the possible embezzlement on August 18th. Subsequently, the district began an internal investigation. May is now on administrative leave pending her termination.
The district contacted the State Auditor's Office, asking them to conduct an independent audit, which could take several months. The missing funds from the embezzlement are covered by insurance.
Confusion over whether marriage license applications are a public record
"Confusion lingered among Iowa’s county recorders today over whether marriage applications completed by engaged couples qualify as public records, as Polk County and others have treated them.
Lawyers from the Iowa Attorney General’s office still had not answered the question late today, three days before a high-profile Iowa Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage takes effect."
Pared-down open records bill passes House
"A watered-down version of a plan to update Iowa’s open records laws was passed by the House today with promises from lawmakers that much more will be done in the future.
“This bill is not going to make everyone happy and it shouldn’t,” said Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, who led debate on the bill. “This is going to be a fluid, continuing process.”
Citizens who are refused public documents often either give up or are left spending thousands of dollars in attorney fees, supporters of the legislation have said."
Roughwood resident seeks public records
"Johnston city officials will gather documents and e-mail records about proposed rezoning of the Roughwood neighborhood after a resident requested all the public records related to the issue.
"We are going to go back and try and pull up as much information for him as we can," said Johnston City Manager Jim Sanders."
Changes to 'sunshine' law debated
"Greater secrecy in government records would result from some of the changes lawmakers have made to a bill dealing with open meetings and open records, according to the state ombudsman.
"Some of the amendments adopted last week pose a retreat from the amount of transparency and openness that currently exists in Iowa. It is just bad public policy," Ombudsman Bill Angrick wrote in a letter to key lawmakers."
Push more public records to Internet
"As with most everything today, when people want to do business with the government, the place they go is the Internet. They're discovering a mother lode of public information a mere keystroke away.
Government at all levels maintains vast warehouses of information, much of which is migrating from paper to digital form, and increasingly it is publicly available, free for the taking on the Internet."
Iowa gov starts using state e-mail after scrutiny
"In his first two years in office, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver rarely used his state e-mail account, relying instead on a private server and computer in what freedom-of-information advocates decried as an effort to skirt public records laws.
But after The Associated Press began questioning Culver aides about the matter, the governor changed his policy and has begun using his state e-mail account for public business."
State Republicans call for Iowa tax Web site
"The state of Iowa would have to launch a searchable Web site available to the public to catalog how tax dollars are spent under a bill proposed Wednesday in the Iowa Legislature.
Republican supporters in both houses of the Legislature said during a news conference at the Statehouse that such a Web site would allow for greater transparency in state government by turning all of Iowa’s citizens into budget watchdogs.
They likened keeping track of taxpayer dollars in Iowa to searching through a maze, but they said the proposed Web site would streamline the process."
Finish job: Pass open-government bill
"It's good that Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has pledged to more aggressively enforce the state's open-meetings and open-records laws. That, however, does not mean the Legislature should abandon a bill nearly enacted last session that would go even further to keep government open to Iowans.
The attorney general has assigned a lawyer in his office to handle cases when local governments are accused of violating state laws intended to make government transparent to the public. Miller's office will consider enforcement actions based on complaints from citizens, either directly or forwarded by the Office of Citizens' Aide/Ombudsman, which reported receiving 275 complaints or questions from citizens about public meetings and records in 2008."
Panel proposes expanded privacy in public records
"Iowa governments would have greater authority to black out personal information from public records under proposals recommended by a legislative committee.
Advocates say the proposals would protect citizens from identity theft.
But opponents say the unintended results could be alarming, particularly if the public is unable to differentiate between, for example, a convicted sex offender and another citizen with the same name.
"The public has more to fear from government records containing information about them of which they are unaware than the release of information pertaining to them," said Bill Monroe, executive director of the Iowa Newspaper Association."
