Legal News

The House of Representatives today passed a FOIA reform bill by a vote of 308-117, the AP reports. The White House voiced opposition to the legislation, saying it was "premature and counterproductive." The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that includes AAN and that has promoted FOIA reform since 2005, issued a statement applauding the House's action. The House also approved bills that would make contributions to presidential libraries public and overturn a 2001 presidential directive giving the president authority to shield his records from public view. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee today held a hearing on a companion FOIA reform bill.

Last week we noted that Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, was prepared to introduce an amendment in the Senate Judiciary Committee that would -- like Britain's Official Secrets Act -- criminalize the communication or publication of broad swaths of classified information. A couple of days later we reported that the senator had reconsidered and withdrawn the bill. Since then, Kyl has returned with another, less onerous yet-still-dangerous amendment that he apparently intends to take straight to the Senate floor. Tucson Weekly and San Francisco Bay Guardian both report this week on the twists and turns.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, who had informed colleagues that he planned to introduce an amendment to the Act that would have created the equivalent of the U.S. version of the British Official Secrets Act, reversed course yesterday, according to Cox Newspapers' Washington Bureau. Although the original amendment circulated by Kyl would have criminalized the communication or publication of any classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity," his spokesperson now says the Senator's intentions were widely misunderstood. "It was (an overly broad) draft, only a draft and slightly premature on some people's part to say this was the final amendment," he says. A Capitol Hill newspaper credits "pushback" by the Sunshine in Government Initiative, of which AAN is a member, with the senator's change of heart.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a March 14 hearing to discuss a new bill from Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would put teeth into the Freedom of Information Act, Cox Newspapers reports. The bill seeks to end chronic FOIA delays, like those reported in a new study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, which found that the federal government's performance was at its lowest point since agencies first began reporting in 1998. The bill would allow requesters to recover attorney fees if they are forced to go to court and would create an ombudsman to oversee FOIA disputes. Witnesses at the upcoming hearing include Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, representing the Sunshine in Government Initiative. A subcommittee in the House of Representatives held a hearing on FOIA reform two weeks ago.

It is in California, according to Stephanie Barrett of the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. "If you're not a student getting [academic] credit, you're not a true intern," she tells SF Weekly. "You're an employee and you should be paid like one." The unpaid internship has become standard practice in California, with SF Weekly reporting that San Francisco, 7x7, Diablo, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian all use them, with other publications like Dwell, Benefit and Yoga Journal offering below-minimum-wage stipends. The Bay Guardian's Editor and Publisher Bruce Brugmann denies his paper is violating labor law, saying it conforms to labor standards as interpreted by the California Newspaper Publishers Association -- and that it is helping budding writers to boot. "We're helping young people by giving them vocational training from expert editors and reporters," he says. "It's a wonderful opportunity for them."

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, has informed colleagues that he may introduce an amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917, to criminalize the communication or publication of any classified information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity" and expand the penalty to 20 years in prison. The amendment, which Kyl has said he plans to introduce tomorrow in a Judiciary Committee markup of an unrelated bill, would give the government tremendous power to silence critics and to limit the debate and discussion on the techniques it elects to use in the "war on terror." AAN encourages members in states with a Judiciary Committee member to call their senator and urge them to oppose Kyl's measure. The Sunshine in Government Initiative, an open-government coalition of which AAN is a member, is circulating discussion points (PDF file) regarding the proposal.