Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/government-transparency/)
Every public agency has to follow the same state laws about sharing records with the public. But every public agency does not interpret these laws the same way when it comes to sharing complaints of sexual harassment.
The Courier-Journal argued that U of L’s board of trustees routinely violated state law by allowing members to participate remotely without disclosing to the public that the meeting will be conducted via teleconference.
The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting filed a lawsuit Thursday against the University of Louisville Foundation, the latest step in a long public records fight.
The University of Louisville Foundation violated the state’s Open Records Act by refusing to release financial documents and contracts sought by KyCIR. This is the third such decision within the last month.
In one of his last acts in office, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway issued a ruling last week that paves the way for public officials to use private cell phones to carry out public business.
Kentucky earned a grade of D+ in the 2015 State Integrity Investigation, an assessment of state government accountability and transparency conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity.
When Kentuckians try to obtain public documents from state agencies, sometimes a technological relic from the 1990s — a fax machine — comes in handy.
Kentucky Retirement Systems, which runs the $16 billion pension and health care funds for state, city and county workers and retirees, will be providing more detail about the fees it pays to the managers of its so-called “alternative” investments.
The national leader just five years ago, Kentucky is starting to fall behind other states in disclosing how state government spends the public’s money. In the first four years of its Following the Money report, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group gave Kentucky an “A” grade for its so-called “transparency” of governance. Through the state’s OpenDoor website created by Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009, you could look up state employees’ salaries, state agency purchases, campaign contributions, corporate tax breaks, the names of contract recipients and much more. Kentucky, though, received only a “B” grade this time around. Not because it was less transparent, but because other states became more so, said Phineas Baxandall, a U.S. PIRG senior policy analyst and co-author of the 2014 report, which was released today.