Amendments to Freedom of Information bill draws opposition.

Date published: 4/18/2006

By CHELYEN DAVIS

RICHMOND--A subcommittee of the Freedom of Information Advisory Council wants Gov. Tim Kaine to scuttle a bill the council supported in the first place.

The subcommittee is unhappy with amendments Kaine made, at the behest of Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, to a bill that was meant to tighten some loopholes in disclosure requirements for public-private partnerships.

Public-private partnerships are increasingly being looked at as a viable way to build expensive infrastructure, such as roads and schools.

Kaine's amendments surprised the FOIA council subcommittee that had worked for months on the language of the original bill, which passed both houses easily. The bill had the support of statewide organizations, such as the Virginia Press Association and the Virginia Coalition for open Government.

The FOIA Council subcommittee was most troubled by one amendment whose wording apparently allows the Virginia Department of Transportation to keep certain documents related to public-private transportation projects private until "all phases or aspects of the comprehensive agreement is complete."

In some large projects that take years to complete, that means information could be kept private for all those years.

Homer said VDOT needs that sort of language to protect its bargaining position when making deals with private entities.

If every document were made public, he said, "it would be like a poker game where we're required to turn around and show our cards to the other players, but we can't see the other players' cards."

Homer apologized for the perception that by pushing for the amendments, he had bypassed the council's work, but said he has a "real-world problem" he was trying to solve.

In a meeting yesterday with Homer and other officials, council representatives came to a compromise--they'll ask Kaine to recede from his amendments and basically kill the bill, and then they want Kaine to resubmit the bill with a July 1, 2007, sunset provision.

Legislative rules prevent Kaine from re-amending the bill before tomorrow's reconvened session, in which legislators will deal with the governor's amendments and vetoes to bills.

But, because the General Assembly is in a special session to deal with transportation and budget matters, Kaine can resubmit the bill, with the sunset clause--which means that it expires next year--to give the FOIA Council and VDOT time to work out some compromise language.

To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com

Date published: 4/18/2006