[nfbmi-talk] it's a start but

[joe harcz Comcast]

Most of this would be resolved if the state apparatus actually posted public 
documents including financials and even basic minutes for crying out loud in 
accessible formats for all to their web sites.

And the other is as you suggest they would just answer in simple language 
basic questions when asked by citizens.


As per BSBP most of this stuff is supposed to be routinely submitted to RSA, 
and various state actors pro forma. So why not put it all on their web site 
too?


Oh but that would be too much to ask. Shoot they can't even post an accurate 
staff directory or update it for more than a year. You'll be pleased to know 
Christine you are still on that directory. Say have you recieved your 
paycheck?....lol....

Anyway all of this stuff is very top secret don't you know?


Why should citizens care about how our government functions; what it does; 
and how it spends public money?


I mean who are we lowly citizens especially we blind ones to ask this stuff 
of public officials?


I do note from one of the minutes/transcripts tht you wwere a good public 
servent and when "Commission" members asked you for information about the 
training center you supplied it copiously and in accessible format.

And you didn't even charge them some bogus FOIA for doing so.

Good on you Christine!


You unfortunately are the exception to the rule.

With Brotherly Love,

Joe


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Boone" <christineboone2 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] it's a start but


> Did it ever occur to any of these public employees that they might not 
> have so many FOIA requests if they would simply be "open" and straight 
> forward with the public in the first place?
>
> I wonder how many FOIA requests are filed in other states?  Do they have 
> as many per capita as does Michigan?  How do they handle their FOIA 
> requests?  This would be interesting to know.
>
>
> Christine
>
> On Nov 13, 2013, at 8:13 AM, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz at comcast.net> 
> wrote:
>
>> Limits on fees for public records passed by state House committee By 
>> Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau Public bodies would be 
>> limited in what
>>
>> they could charge for copying public records under the Freedom of 
>> Information Act under a bill passed by a House committee Tuesday. The 
>> bill would allow
>>
>> public bodies to charge $0.10 per page for documents requested by anyone 
>> under the Freedom of Information Act. They also could charge labor costs 
>> of up
>>
>> to three times the minimum wage in Michigan of $7.40 per hour. "This 
>> represents really good work and really good policy," state Rep. Mike 
>> Shirkey, R-Clarklake,
>>
>> who sponsored the bill, said during a hearing before the House Oversight 
>> committee. "It will help make watchdogs out of all of our citizens. The 
>> bill is
>>
>> almost universally opposed by public bodies because of the time and cost 
>> associated with filling hundreds of FOIA requests. Even with changes made 
>> to the
>>
>> bill that will allow the bodies to raise the per-page charge based on 
>> inflation, they still remain against the bill. When the bills were 
>> debated earlier
>>
>> this year, Hamtramck Police Chief Max Garbarino said requiring his 
>> officers to review and fill FOIA requests was taking them off road 
>> patrols. "FOIA is
>>
>> very burdensome and this will make it even more so for us," he said. 
>> "Every minute one of my supervisors is reviewing a FOIA tape, it costs us 
>> money and
>>
>> takes the officer away from patrol. But media and other citizens looking 
>> for answers from government hailed the bill as a necessary tool. "One of 
>> the most
>>
>> significant problems that the public and media have had with FOIA in 
>> recent years has been the explosion of unreasonable labor fee demands 
>> from public
>>
>> bodies," said Herschel Fink, attorney for the Detroit Free Press. " Many 
>> of those are intended to discourage FOIA requests. The bill would allow 
>> anyone
>>
>> filing a FOIA request to sue public bodies to protest unreasonable labor 
>> costs. "This would give us a tool to use against those kinds of demands 
>> which
>>
>> many public bodies have been imposing," Fink said. State Rep. Jim 
>> Townsend, D-Royal Oak, offered amendments that would require charter 
>> schools, public
>>
>> school academies and the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association, which 
>> is the body that determines an annual fee tacked onto auto insurance 
>> bills to
>>
>> cover the health costs of catastrophic car accident victims, to be 
>> subject to the act. The amendments were voted down. The bill, which 
>> passed on a 6-0
>>
>> vote, now moves to the full House for consideration.
>>
>>
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