Friday, October 3, 2008

It could be worse but it could definitely be better

If you missed the article in this month's Quill or just haven't read it yet, there is a reminder of how badly we need to look at reforming Maryland's Public Information Act.

A 2007 survey by the Better Government Association and the National Freedom of Information Coalition ranks Maryland 11th with a grade of D (D- if you look at the percentage grade).

The study looked at all 50 states. No state received a grade of A. Nebraska and New Jersey both came close, tying with an 87 percent. Thirty-eight states received a grade of F with Alabama and South Dakota finishing at the bottom with perfect goose eggs.

It's a curious situation where the state's letter grade actually dropped but its overall position improved over the last study which was released in 2002.

In that study, six states received a grade of B. Eight states graded at an F (Alabama and South Dakota received zeroes then, too). Everyone else fell in between.

There's still work to be done here in the Free State.

Maryland only received half the total points possible for Response Time, Appeals, Expedited Reviews and Sanctions. Those are good places to start and maybe we should look to Nebraska and New Jersey to show the way to improve. Nebraska scored 100 percent on Response Time, Appeals and Sanctions.

One thing is clear, it's getting tougher to keep government transparent.

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