A Robust VFOIA
Open and transparent government can benefit Virginia’s people and commerce. An effort is underway (U.S. Sup. Ct. Dkt. No. 22-308) aimed at safeguarding the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“VFOIA”).
According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the stated purpose of VFOIA is to secure to the Commonwealth’s citizens “ready access to public records” and “free entry to meetings of public bodies” (quoting Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-3700B). Bob Lewis, writing in the Virginia Mercury, states that “[w]ithout a robust FOIA, small-scale wrongdoing gains the dark, airless recesses necessary to metastasize unchecked into criminal abuse.”
The ACLU of Virginia states that “[g]overnment secrecy is a threat to basic democratic principles … [y]et today, much of our government’s business is conducted in secret.” It believes that the Commonwealth’s “government bodies should default in favor of transparency in all public actions whenever and to the greatest extent possible” and points out that “[t]he Virginia Freedom of Information Act states that the Act ‘shall be liberally construed to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities and afford every opportunity to citizens to witness the operations of government.’”
Sarah Vogelsong, also writing in the Virginia Mercury, deplores that “[i]n Virginia, more often than not, the government doesn’t actually think you have the right to know what it’s doing.”
Last Updated on January 28, 2025 by Ramin Seddiq