Idahoans for Openness in Government, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, and Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf invite the public to attend a series of workshops on government transparency, all free to attend, and all streamed live statewide, with the next session set for Oct. 25, to focus on the Idaho Open Meeting Law.
The open meetings session, like the others, will take place in the Lincoln Auditorium of the Idaho State Capitol at 10 a.m. MT, and will be streamed live online in partnership with Idaho Public Television, at idahoptv.org/insession.
Lead presenters for this session will be former Idaho Chief Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane and IDOG President Betsy Russell. Kane, who is volunteering his time for this program, is the state’s foremost expert on Idaho’s open meetings and public records laws; he, Russell, and former Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden have conducted more than 50 educational seminars on the two laws around the state since 2004 in partnership with IDOG, and with the endorsement of the Association of Idaho Cities, the Idaho Association of Counties, and the Idaho Press Club.
“There has been some confusion recently about the Idaho Open Meeting Law and what it requires,” Russell said. “It’s important for everyone — government officials and employees, members of the news media, and citizens — to understand this essential government transparency law.”
“As the law so eloquently states,” Russell said, “‘It is the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret.’” (Idaho Code 74-201)
The workshop is the third of a series of four government transparency sessions IDOG is presenting this fall. The first, on Aug. 30, with Woolf as lead presenter, focused on Transparent Idaho and Townhall Idaho, and how to use them to access public data and public meeting information for free online, any time. The full video of that session is now available online at openidaho.org.
The second, on Sept. 27, with McGrane as lead presenter, focused on campaign finance and lobbying, including what the rules are, how to comply with the law, and how the public can access all the data. It, too, is now posted in full at www.openidaho.org (scroll down to “Past Seminars” to find the links.)
The fourth workshop, set for Nov. 28, at 10 a.m. MT, will again feature Kane and Russell as lead presenters, and will focus on the Idaho Public Records Act. Registration is now open for the open meetings and public records sessions at www.openidaho.org.
These sessions are intended for citizens, members of the news media, local and state public officials and their staffs who are interested in the public’s rights under Idaho law for access to public records and meetings, the rules, and how to access the information. The sessions are endorsed by the Association of Idaho Cities, the Idaho Association of Counties, Attorneys for Civic Education and the Idaho Press Club.
IDOG is a non-profit coalition for open government whose mission is to promote open government and freedom of information. Like numerous such state coalitions around the country, it is affiliated with the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC). IDOG is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and is funded entirely by grants and donations.
The upcoming workshops are free to attend, either in-person or virtually, but participants are asked to please register in advance at www.openidaho.org or by calling the State Controller’s Office at
208-334-3100, ext. 0; say you’re calling to register for an IDOG workshop. Continuing legal education credit is available for attorney participants in each of the sessions (1 credit MCLE per session), pending Idaho State Bar approval.
Questions from the public will be taken during each session at idogquestions@gmail.com, and will be answered by the presenters during the sessions as time permits. Within a few days after the completion of each session, the full recording will be posted online at IDOG’s website, www.openidaho.org, for future public viewing.
The IDOG website also offers information and resources about public records and open meeting laws, an online “User’s Guide” to Idaho’s open government laws, and news items from around the state regarding public records, open meetings and matters involving openness in government. During the Idaho legislative session, the site features a bill tracker for legislation affecting the Idaho Open Meeting Law or the Idaho Public Records Act.
You can find more information about IDOG online here: https://openidaho.org/about-us/.
