Free access to information available from State, county, and city web sites by Ben Blackstock Governmental information services are getting better by the week. Some are excellent, some are a work in progress. It seems some can't decide to give it away on the net and miss out on charging for it by the page. And, the mess in the state's court system has been cleaned up but there is still more to do there. Bookmarks for six web sites will spin you off to browsing experience and lots of quick access knowledge. And, it's free. And, it's getting better almost daily. I give the prize to Gov. Frank Keating's site for attractiveness and ease of access to every agency in the executive branch of state government. It opens with a stunning color picture of the entrance to the Gov's office then gives clear colorful choices on where you can go from there. www.governor.state.ok.us offers entry to a trove of information on the executive branch of state government. It posts the latest news about the governor. Clicking on the long list of state agencies, boards, or commissions leads all over the state to mailing addresses, phone numbers and to web sites of every agency which has one. A tour of the list reveals some quality and some still searching for what to offer the browser. Or, go direct to -- www.state.ok.us/osfdocs/agencies and bookmark it. Stands for Office of State Finance -- documents. FOI can't get more easy and more free than this for those with computer access. For the state senate's home page start at www.lsb.state.ok.us/senate/welcome.html (no period). Paul Sund (Room 423-A, 521-5605) is Senate Communications Director. For the house it's www.lsb.state.ok.us/house/ohorpage.page.htm (no period again). Isn't that an odd call sign or web address? "ohor" stands for Oklahoma House of Representatives. Just why they had to have "page twice and "htm" not "html" is beyond my VoTech computer training. But it's good and Tim Ray, House Director of Media, says smart persons tend to it staying current. Get him at 521-2711. Back in November it was page 1 news that the computer system in the courts branch of government was screwed up, bad. Had been for more than a year but no one dared say anything until some reporter thought to ask Auditor & Examiner Clifton Scott. A mess. Court funds, child support payments, fees & costs paid & unpaid, and, obviously, cases, dockets, decision, dispositions. That's mostly fixed now according to Grey Satterfield (521-3848) legal assistant to Justice Joe Watt who was assigned to go under the floor after the skunk. Enter the court system through www.oscn.net which is linked to activities of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the three branches of Oklahoma's Civil Appeals and more. "More" is not all. It is linked to the eight mainframe computers of the eight largest District Courts. Which are the following counties: Oklahoma, Tulsa, Commanche, Garfield, Cleveland, Payne, Rogers and Canadian. Trial courts in these eight counties handle 60% of the cases. The other 69 counties are coming along as money and effort permit. What about the counties, cities and towns? Some do. Some don't. It depends on whether there's money and interest in such new-fangled toys as computers. To be fair, there is not a tidal wave of demand from the public, only from computer aficionados. But, it's inching up. Part of the problem is that the folks in many of these offices didn't cut their teeth on the web. For access to county information go to www.okacco.com which links to those counties which are "up." Carl Foster (524-3200) is the web master for the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, off Lincoln on NE 50th. He said 13 of the 77 counties now have web sites.. The two largest are the most developed and sophisticated: Oklahoma county at www.oklacounty.org and Tulsa at www.tulsacounty.org -- which has a jobs available, county property for sale, commissioner meetings. 98 cities and towns have their own websites It's much the same with cities & towns the Oklahoma Municipal League reports. Their site at www.oml.org links to those cities which are in the game. Jimi Layman (528-7560 or oml@hotmail.com) provided me with a list of 98 Oklahoma cities, towns, even hamlets, which have web sites open for the clicking. Amazing. Since income from the sale of copies of public records at even 25 cents per page ($1.00 per certified page) adds up to some sizable discretionary spending by departments having custody of sought documents, the free on the web "fad" isn't enthusiastically embraced. It is getting better and it will grow as the public finds its way through this maze. We're putting together a list of key www finds. This is a start. The state is miles ahead in the executive, legislative and judicial branches. To me a surprising number of counties and municipalities now offer web access and it's growing. We invite comment on such governmental sites. Maybe someone will do a Oklahoma governmental web site directory. Write your comments to FOI-OK, Box 2408, Edmond, OK 73083. Or, email our editor at kbiccum@ionet.net (no period). Me? I'm benblack@ionet.net From the statehouse… The first major deadline of the Oklahoma State Legislature has passed. All bills had to be passed out of committees of the house of origin and moved on to the calendar for floor consideration by Thursday, February 22nd. Many bills were left in committee, and they are still alive in that committee until next year. There are many bills that either specifically address, or mention the Open Meeting and Open Records Acts. The following is merely a summary of these bills and their effect on those statutes. Thanks to Mark Thomas of the Oklahoma Press Association for help with this report. OPEN RECORDS - 56 bills Many of these bills merely mention that the body shall be subject to the Open Records Act. However, the following bills specifically deal with the Open Records Act. HB 1149 - Frank Davis (R) Guthrie - Adds school board attorneys as being able to keep their litigation and investigatory files confidential. DA's and municipal attorneys already have this exemption. SB 399 - Dave Herbert (D) Midwest City - Would have changed the definition of public body to include 501(c) 3 organizations which are set up to invest government bond money. This bill never got a hearing in Senate Judiciary. SB 413 - James Williamson (R) Tulsa - This bill would have eliminated the legislature's exemption from the Open Meeting Act. The bill never got a hearing in Judiciary. SB 665 - Dick Wilkerson (D) Atwood - This bill would add the Board of Medicolegal Investigations to the list of boards that are exempt from the Open Records Act. Additionally, there are many bills that deal with the records of juvenile sex offenders. Many legislators want juveniles who are convicted sex offenders to have those records remain when they become an adult. Under current law, juveniles' records are wiped clean when they become an adult. Under these proposals, sex offenses would not be expunged from the juvenile record. OPEN MEETING - 45 bills Many of these bills merely mention that the body in question is subject to the Open Meeting Act. However, there are several that specifically relate to Open Meetings. HB 1276 - Kent Friskup (R) Meeker - The bill would require public bodies to post notices of their meetings on their web site. HB 1355 - Ray Vaughn (R) Edmond - The bill would set procedures for comments by the public at meetings of public bodies. HB 1433 - Barbara Staggs (R) Muskogee - The bill would allow school districts to submit reports to the State Board of Education in electronic form, rather than in written form. The bill also would have deleted the requirement that gifted and talented student advisory curriculum committees be subject to the Open Meetings Act. Staggs eliminated the section that would take away the meetings requirement, and is moving forward with the electronic filing section of the bill. SB 61 - Kathleen Wilcoxson (R) OKC - The bill would have required school boards to go into executive session to discuss termination of a teacher. Boards of education already have the right to use executive session for that purpose, so the bill was killed. SB 410 - James Williamson (R) Tulsa - The bill would set procedures for public comment at meetings of public bodies. HB 1617 - Odilia Dank (R) OKC - The bill would have removed the privilege from court documents and judicial opinions. Neither judges nor attorneys who make statements in court documents would be protected from libel suits. The bill did not remove the privilege exemption from what legislators say on the floor of the House or Senate. OPA strongly opposed the bill and it was never heard in the House Judiciary Committee. JUVENILE CRIME - 44 bills OPA is looking for a bill to clarify that past, current, and future arrest records of juveniles who commit felonies would be open to the public. HB 1953 - Jim Wilson (D) Tahlequah The bill would have created the Medical Information Privacy Act and set up a Commission on Information Practices. The Department of Health and Hospital Association opposed the bill. OPA concerns are that it does not tie fees charged for records to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, and it is unclear about the duties of the Commission of Information Practices. This legislation may be put aside in light of the federal HIPPA regulations coming later this year. This is an open record story... OKLAHOMA CITY -- House Bill 1634 by Rep. Wayne Pettigrew is intended to remedy a situation such as that which occurred when a jury in Guthrie was not advised about other DUI offenses of a former Piedmont man. On Feb. 29, 2000, the Logan County jury convicted Ronald Richard Hammond Jr., then 22, of driving through Guthrie in April 1999 while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The jury sentenced Hammond to 10 days in jail and assessed a $1,000 fine. Belatedly, though, the jury learned that in 1995 the same driver, then 17, struck and killed four members of the Mark Matli family while they were checking on an injured bobcat on the side of the road at NW 206th in Piedmont. The errant driver registered a blood-alcohol content of .14 at The time. Canadian County prosecutors charged Hammond as an adult, naming him in four counts of first-degree manslaughter. However, a judge decreed that Hammond should be prosecuted as a minor; ultimately Hammond was sentenced to community service and counseling in juvenile court. It also was revealed that in June 1999 Hammond was arrested by Edmond police for multiple offenses. He pleaded guilty in Oklahoma County to driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while his license was revoked, and possession of a controlled and dangerous substance. Hammond received a suspended sentence on the Oklahoma County charges and was allowed to serve his probation in Texas, where he moved to live with his family. Because juvenile records are sealed, and because the Oklahoma County conviction resulted from an arrest that occurred after the Guthrie incident, the records of both incidents were withheld from the Guthrie jury. Several jury members in the Guthrie trial expressed anger that they were not informed about the previous DUI offenses. All they were told were the details of the April 1999 arrest. Under HB 1634, a jury trial on a felony DUI charge would be split into two phases. In the first phase of the trial, only the defendant's guilt or innocence in the current case would be decided. If the verdict was guilty, a second phase would be held, in which "evidence of prior offenses and other evidence relevant to punishment" could be introduced. "Passage of this bill would insure that repeat DUI offenders are punished more appropriately and that know Page 1