The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.

To break this down succinctly, the 147th General Assembly has two months of life left to it. (Quick, sci-fi fans, what movie is that paraphrased line from?). At the beginning of this session, all the way back on January 3, 2013, Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Dems began keeping track of our how legislators voted on legislation of interests to Progressives.

Now, this chart does not follow all the legislation that has been filed. We don’t report on perfunctory bills, nor do we follow the progress of judicial nominations, executive nominations, or Concurrent or Joint Resolutions unless they are a matter of controversy. So the legislation that is listed is a matter of concern and priority for those of us on the liberal / progressive side of the aisle. I review every piece of legislation as it is filed, and if I miss something, Senators and Representatives on our side of the aisle usually call me out on it, so if I miss something it won’t be missed for long.

Not included in the charts below are four bills that were just released yesterday concerning strengthening Delaware’s FOIA statute. And I got a little excited when I saw the emailed press release come across my inbox, until I opened up the press release and saw the subtite: “Four bills sponsored by Reps. Atkins… ” I actually felt a physical drop, sitting there at my computer. Because how good can an Open Government bill be if it is sponsored by John Atkins?

I read further and discovered that this was a package of bills sponsored by four very different legislators.

Rep. Ed Osienski’s House Bill 323 would require that annual or biennial reports published by various Executive Branch public bodies be posted online on one central website. Ok, this is good.

“In some cases, Delaware does a great job providing information to the public, but can and should do more to make it easier for people to find that information,” said Rep. Osienski, D-Newark. “By putting all annual reports on one central website, it becomes one-stop shopping for the press and public instead of having to hunt around or call state agencies or groups.

Rep. Kim Williams’s House Bill 320 would require public bodies that meet four or fewer times per year to post draft meeting minutes online within 10 working days of the end of the meeting. Currently, a group that only holds annual meetings is not required to post meeting minutes until they have been approved, which would happen a full year later.

“The idea that in 2014 meeting minutes for a public body might not be available for three, six or even 12 months is just senseless to me,” said Rep. Williams, D-Marshallton. “The public has a right to know about these meetings, and they shouldn’t have to wait an unacceptable amount of time. By posting draft minutes, we are striking a balance between keeping the public informed and giving the group time to write and review accurate minutes to be shared.”

This is also good. The first bill puts all the reports online at a central clearing-house site, and this bill gets us the information sooner.

Rep. Quinn Johnson’s House Bill 322, would reinstate “the U.S. Mail” as an acceptable way to file a FOIA request. Alright. Whatever.

So, two good bills. One perfunctory bill. And now we get to John Atkins.

The Sussex County Association of Towns, in addition to some other groups, have raised concerns about ambiguities in how the FOIA law is administered and have asked for help.

“I’ve heard from towns in my district and throughout Sussex County that they need guidance with FOIA,” said Rep. Atkins, D-Millsboro. “Many of these are small towns with limited resources, and FOIA requests can be burdensome. All they want to do is get it right and be consistent. Having a manual with all the information in hand will answer their questions up front and help them follow the law.”

So Atkin’s House Bill 321 would add an educational component to Delaware’s FOIA law, requiring the Attorney General’s office to publish a manual and hold an annual training seminar for FOIA coordinators.

Fine. We’ll get you the manual.

I still want a bill to deal with this:

On Tuesday, the [Attorney General’s] office issued an opinion that found that the Governor’s Working Group on Charter Schools, appointed by Gov. Jack A. Markell in early 2012, should have been treated as a public body and as such, release meeting minutes to the public.

The 24-member group made up of representation from local school officials, charter schools, legislators and education stakeholders were tasked to discuss updating the state’s charter school law. The group made recommendations that were then used as a basis for the charter school legislation, House Bill 165, which was signed [into law] in June.

I want a law that clarifies that any temporary group formed at the request of the Governor, legislator, or any state official anywhere at any time, tasked with public business, is a public body under the auspices of FOIA, and thus must comply with any and all transparency laws. And then I want some teeth in our transparency laws, so that when they are violated, we get something more than an report from the Attorney General that no more than a shrug. I want to make failure to comply a very costly proposition. $20,000 fines for each failure to comply. Ten days in jail. Forced resignations and banishment from the state. Something like that.

Not too much to ask for.

Below you will find the current Vote Tracker that is covering this second year of the 147th Session. The second chart covers the first year of the session that ended on June 30, 2013. Yes, it is difficult to read in the embedded section, so click on the expansion button in the lower right corner of the box, and a new browser will open with the document fully expanded. Or you can download a copy of the document for yourself by second button in the lower right corner, which will pull up a menu of choices, one of which is “Download a copy.”