{"id":249,"date":"2019-03-22T14:02:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T14:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/"},"modified":"2019-03-22T14:02:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T14:02:19","slug":"sunshine-week-in-ohio","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine Week in Ohio"},"template":"","class_list":["post-249","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":7671,"article_type":153,"authors":null,"related_issues":false,"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"We at Common Cause Ohio agree that \u201c<strong><em>sunshine is the best disinfectant!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Transparency in government leads to accountability, exposes unethical behavior, and encourages our \"employees\" to work harder. We\u2019re all for letting the light in!\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s why every year we\u2019re excited to celebrate\u00a0<strong>Sunshine Week<\/strong>\u00a0-- an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information sponsored by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.\r\n\r\nThis year for Sunshine Week, we teamed up with ACLU Ohio for a lunchtime brownbag discussion about Ohio\u2019s Sunshine Laws (and how to use them). 2019\u2019s Sunshine Week (March 10-16) also saw some important announcements coming from statewide office holders. Here\u2019s a quick rundown.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost\u00a0<\/strong>released an updated\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov\/Files\/Publications-Files\/Publications-for-Legal\/Sunshine-Law-Publications\/Sunshine-Laws-Manual.aspx?link_id=0&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">Sunshine Laws Manual<\/a>. A Sandusky Register\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sanduskyregister.com\/story\/201903130043?link_id=1&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">article about the release<\/a>\u00a0describes \u201cThe Yellow Book\u201d as \u201can up-to-date guide to Ohio\u2019s public records and open meetings laws.\u201d Yost also posted\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_zNNRl0fr9w&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;link_id=2&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">a YouTube video<\/a>on how Ohioans can make a public records request.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Meanwhile,\u00a0<strong>Ohio Auditor Keith Faber\u00a0<\/strong>(who championed the mediation process for resolving open records conflicts when he was Ohio Senate president) called for the ability to use the mediation process to address open meeting violations. If this proposal is passed into law, Ohioans could push back against closed meetings or violations of public notice of upcoming meetings by filing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ohiocourtofclaims.gov\/public-records.php?link_id=3&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">at the Ohio Court of Claims website<\/a>\u00a0and paying a $25 fee. An\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/news\/20190312\/auditor-keith-faber-seeks-new-setup-to-question-open-meetings-violations?link_id=4&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">article in the Columbus Dispatch<\/a>\u00a0explained, \u201cFaber also announced his commitment to giving grades to make public records compliance a significant part of his office\u2019s regular audits of governmental bodies.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose<\/strong>\u00a0spoke out about the need to put all campaign finance contributions online, including those made to local candidates such as mayors.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/opinion\/2019\/03\/shining-a-brighter-light-on-campaign-finance-in-ohio-frank-larose-opinion.html?link_id=5&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">In a Sunshine Week op-ed column<\/a>, Secretary LaRose explained how putting contributions online leads to greater transparency. Following, LaRose\u2019s lead, on March 13, State Senator Michael Rulli (R-Salem) introduced a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohiosenate.gov\/legislation\/GA133-SB-107?link_id=6&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">bill<\/a>\u00a0to put local political contributions online and available on the Secretary of State\u2019s website.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In the Ohio House,\u00a0<strong>Speaker Larry Householder\u00a0<\/strong>announced the House would begin turning on the cameras in committee hearing rooms in the coming weeks. The plan is to have cameras up and running in all committee rooms by the end of summer. \u00a0While the process will be a bit slow, the first committee hearing was live-streamed on March 19. Here\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statenews.org\/post\/house-begins-streaming-more-committee-hearings-online?link_id=7&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">an article<\/a>\u00a0about it from the Statehouse News Bureau.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof and Speaker Householder\u00a0<\/strong>called for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/news\/20190314\/legislative-leaders-statewide-officials-all-pushing-for-more-oversight-of-jobsohio?link_id=8&amp;can_id=5121b1f92433c6d0b5b311bc5ea8105c&amp;source=email-sunshine-week-in-ohio&amp;email_referrer=&amp;email_subject=sunshine-week-in-ohio\">more transparency for JobsOhio<\/a>, the quasi-governmental development agency that is exempt from public records and meetings law. It was established by former Gov. Kasich to \"move at the speed of business\" and took over many of the responsibilities of the Department of Development. Currently, JobsOhio is shrouded in secrecy, making accountability extremely difficult.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWe\u2019re encouraged to see progress on issues relating to transparency, and looking forward to further gains in the year ahead. Meanwhile, we are happy to help with your questions about making a public records request, or challenging open meetings violations.\r\n\r\nWith thanks for all you do,\r\n\r\nCatherine Turcer &amp; Mia Lewis"}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sunshine Week in Ohio - Common Cause Ohio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunshine Week in Ohio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Ohio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/OH.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/\",\"name\":\"Sunshine Week in Ohio - Common Cause Ohio\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-22T14:02:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sunshine Week in Ohio\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Ohio\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunshine Week in Ohio - Common Cause Ohio","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunshine Week in Ohio","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/","og_site_name":"Common Cause Ohio","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/OH.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/","name":"Sunshine Week in Ohio - Common Cause Ohio","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-22T14:02:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/articles\/sunshine-week-in-ohio\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sunshine Week in Ohio"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/","name":"Common Cause Ohio","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Common Cause Ohio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/ohio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}