Audio Recordings of Open Meetings Not Exempt Under FOIA
It's been awhile, but the PAC office of the Illinois Attorney General just released its 12th binding opinion for 2017. In PAC Op. 17-012, the PAC found a public body in violation of FOIA when it denied a request to release audio recordings of meetings of the public body.
A reporter requested, among other records, copies of audio recordings of all board meetings in 2017. The public body denied the request, claiming that the recordings fell under the preliminary records exemption of section 7(1)(f) of FOIA. The reporter appealed the denial of his request for the audio recordings to the PAC.
The PAC first reviewed section 7(1)(f), finding that it applied only to records "that reflect the give and take of the deliberative process" and not to information that is "already public knowledge." The PAC rejected the public body's argument that the audio recordings were preliminary because they are used in the preparation of the official minutes of the meeting. In support of its opinion, the PAC cited a West Virginia case finding that recordings of meetings were not exempt under a West Virginia FOIA exemption that protects "[i]nternal memoranda or letters received or prepared by any public body." The PAC also noted that FOIA permits a public body to withhold audio recordings of closed sessions, but that the statute does not contain similar language for recordings of open sessions.
In short, the PAC's binding opinion finds that audio recordings of open meetings are not exempt under 7(1)(f) of FOIA.
Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf
0 comments:
Post a Comment