From Megan Rhyne, Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, an analysis of a recent interpretation of public records law that would preclude important reporting like:
https://www.state-journal.com/education/former-ksu-president-charged-73…
https://thecollegepost.com/ksu-president-credit-card/
. . . . .
"This weekend, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published the alarming news that the Department of Accounts (DOA), a division of the Virginia Department of Finance, has been advising state agencies â in the interest of preventing identify fraud â to remove employee names from credit card statements someone might request through the Freedom of Information Act. Even more alarming is the news that this directive was based on advice from Bank of America, the issuer of the state's purchase cards.
"To boil that down: a bank told a state agency created to provide 'a unified financial accounting and control system for state funds' to tell other state agencies not to connect names with billing statements detailing expenditures of state funds.
"Amanda Kastl is the FOIA officer for Fairfax County. I am the director of the FOIA-centric Virginia Coalition for Open Government. While we mostly agree on a lot, we don't always see eye-to-eye on each and every FOIA issue. We were both taken aback by this news, however. That's why we write together today to share our practical and philosophical concerns with the DOA's position on limiting the public's access to information."
