WV Doubles Restrictions on Freedom of Information

Saturday Gazette-Mail - APNews: "By ALLISON BARKER Associated Press Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia lawmakers have doubled the number of exemptions under the state's Freedom of Information Act in the last five years, marking the biggest expansion of government secrecy since the law was enacted in 1977. The open government issue took on new weight after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when the Bush administration set a higher threshold for federal FOIA disclosures. West Virginia and many other states followed the federal example and moved to add homeland security exemptions to state public records laws. That reaction to a highly emotional and traumatic event is now being seen in an emergency rule proposed by the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management following multiple coal mining accidents that killed 16 West Virginians this year. "