Laws & Regulations

News media across the country will again be undertaking open-government projects in 2009. The Sunshine Week website offers you ideas on stories you could dig out of hard-to-see public records.

An amendment adding whistleblower protection to the economic stimulus bill before the House will be voted on soon.

The Interior Department has proposed codifying its rules on photography, filming, and sound-recording on public lands it administers. Some newsgatherers are worried that the rules would hurt their ability to do their jobs.

President Barack Obama signalled that open access to information will be a top priority for his administration, issuing two memos to all executive agencies and one executive order at a January 21, 2009, session open to reporters and cabinet members.

The heads of Obama administration Congressional committees and subcommittees will likely be in the spotlight in the coming months. This overview will help you get a feel for who these people are, or who will soon be chosen.

A US House Oversight Committee report released in January 2009 found that federal agencies frequently ignore the findings and recommendations of their inspectors general.

The Senate Agriculture Committee has written an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for records in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The language, which is in the draft version of the Farm Bill and would prevent American meat eaters from knowing about any problems with their meat was introduced by farmers and members of the food industry.

SEJ and 18 other journalism groups urged the Department of the Interior Oct. 19, 2007, to revise a proposed rule that would keep freelancers and documentarians from covering news in National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other DOI lands.