HAPPY 55TH BIRTHDAY, FOIA!
"The Kentucky Open Government Coalition commemorates this day by posting Bill Moyers' humorous retelling of President Lyndon Johnson's July 4, 1966 signing of the Freedom of Information Act, which today celebrates its 55th birthday.
https://www.justice.gov/oip/freedom-information-act-5-usc-552
We also share a bit more about FOIA's backstory — courtesy of The History Channel — and how it gave birth to the Open Records Act, in Kentucky, and companion legislation in every other state:
"The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 4, 1966, giving the public the right to access records from any federal agency. FOIA plays an important role in keeping government transparent and accountable, and has been used to expose a wide range of government misconduct and waste, along with threats to the public's health and safety.
ORIGINS OF FOIA
"John Moss, a Democrat from Sacramento, California, was elected to Congress in 1952, amidst the Cold War and an era of increasing government secrecy.
"Moss started advocating for more government openness after the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower fired several thousand federal employees accused of being communists. When Moss asked to see the records associated with the dismissals, the administration refused to hand them over.
"After Moss became chairman of a congressional subcommittee on government information in 1955, he held hearings about government transparency and conducted investigations into cases of federal agencies withholding information.
"According to Moss, 'The present trend toward government secrecy could end in a dictatorship. The more information that is made available, the greater will be the nation's security.'
"Newspaper editors, journalists, educators and scientists were among those who supported Moss's campaign against government secrecy, while many federal agencies opposed it, arguing that not being able to keep their records secret in certain instances would be detrimental to their work."
FOIA BECOMES LAW
"In 1966, after more than a decade of effort, Moss finally rallied enough support in Congress to pass FOIA.
"Although President Lyndon B. Johnson was reluctant to sign the bill, believing it would limit the ability of government officials to communicate and function effectively, he did so on July 4, 1966.
"Johnson refused to hold a public signing ceremony, like he did with other key legislation; however, he did remark in a statement: 'I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society.'
"FOIA went into effect a year later, on July 4, 1967. Since that time, the FOIA has been strengthened by a series of amendments, starting in 1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal involving President Richard M. Nixon."
"Before retiring from Congress in 1978, John Moss was instrumental in the passage of legislation including the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, and was the first member of Congress to propose impeachment proceedings against Nixon."
https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/freedom-of-information-act
ORIGINS OF THE OPEN RECORDS ACT
In 1974, Kentucky lawmakers enacted the Open Meetings Act.
Lawmakers enacted an open records law in the same year, but that bill was vetoed by Governor Wendell Ford who — according to a 1975 LRC memorandum — expressed concern about inadequate protection for personal privacy.
Kentucky's courts examined the issue of access to public records concurrently, declaring in 1974:
"Intelligent selection of elected officers depends upon an informed citizenry and for that reason it appears to us that public policy should favor rather than impede the right of the individual citizen to be informed as to matters relating to the operation of his government."
https://casetext.com/case/city-of-st-matthews-v-voice-of-st-matthews
Spearheading lawmakers' efforts as chairman of the Interim Committee on State Government's Open Records Subcommittee — formed the following year — Representative Joe Clarke (D-Danville) shepherded the Kentucky Open Records Act to final passage in 1976.
Before filing the committee's open records bill, Clarke circulated a bill draft to "Public Officials and Concerned Citizens. Describing it as "a sound piece of legislation," he nevertheless acknowledged that although the Open Records Subcommittee had "done our homework, our perspective on open records, as on any issue, is limited, and it becomes important and necessary to get input from as many different sources as possible."
Imagine that! Complete government transparency about a bill aimed at securing complete government transparency.
