Imagine not having to file a Freedom of Information request for records that are available under the state disclosure laws.
That’s what Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, envisions as the next step for New York’s Sunshine Laws. State and local governments should be “pro-active” in posting information that is available and of public interest on their websites — without the public having to formally request it, he said.
Legislation to accomplish this is one of a handful of freedom-of-information and open-meetings bills that have sponsors in the state Assembly and Senate this year.
“The thrust of the bill involves what the world has come to call pro-active disclosure, which in my opinion is certainly a trend, and it’s a trend that will continue even in the absence of a law requiring it,” he said…..
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