On Feb. 25, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the rail company CSX in litigation to derail a new Washington, DC, law which bans hazardous cargo shipments through the district. In a brief filed with the Federal District Court, DOJ asserts that hazardous chemical shipments are part of interstate commerce and therefore may only be regulated by federal law.

On Jan. 31, state Rep. Shannon Cooper (R-Clinton) introduced a bill in the Missouri House of Representatives that would modify Missouri’s Sunshine Law to allow a public governmental body to refuse any “vexatious” requests for documents. This bill would allow state agencies to reject any requests for information deemed annoying or frivolous. Unfortunately, a few other states have similar provisions in their sunshine laws.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation requesting an exemption from the open meeting requirements of the Government in Sunshine Act.

Almost a full year ago OMB Watch filed a request, under the Freedom of Information Act, to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for information on their Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) program. The request sought an accounting of how the program was used thus far including the number of submissions, rejections, and communications, as well as program procedures for handling information. Unfortunately, DHS was not very prompt with answers. In fact, it took a summons filed in the DC Circuit Court to get even a few pieces of basic information about the CII program.