coronavirus
Louisville Officials Won’t Release Spending Records Amid Pandemic
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City officials said fulfilling the request for about three weeks of spending records would create an “unreasonable burden” on the government agency.
Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/government-transparency/)
City officials said fulfilling the request for about three weeks of spending records would create an “unreasonable burden” on the government agency.
A state senator who pre-filed a bill that would broadly restrict access to public records said the bill was authored by someone else, and he’s open to making changes based on transparency concerns. State Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, said in an interview with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting on Monday evening that he’s listening to criticism about his proposed legislation. As written, it would exempt several state agencies and local officials from having to release personnel records, disciplinary records, financial information and other information to the public. If this bill were to become law, records custodians could be held personally liable and fined for releasing private information — and requesters seeking records for an “improper” purpose could be ordered to pay attorney’s fees in a subsequent lawsuit. The bill defines “improper” as a request that’s frivolous, or intended to cause someone to violate the provision.
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.