Judges, open government groups blast exemptions to judicial council draft on open meetings

Judges, open government groups blast exemptions to judicial council draft on open meetings
FOI Advocate Blog
NFOIC
November 26, 2013

From Courthouse News Service: SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Comments last week from judges, labor representatives and open government advocates poured criticism on the "vagueness and breadth" of exemptions to a draft rule that would open up meetings of Judicial Council advisory bodies.

But, when asked if the draft rule applies to the Judicial Council's powerful internal committees, Justice Douglas Miller who heads the Executive and Planning Committee answered directly and clearly, "Yes it does."

"We used the legislative language to guide our definition of an advisory body to the Judicial Council," he added. That legislative language defines advisory body as "any multimember body created by formal Judicial Council action to review issues that will be reported to the council."

But criticism rained down on the draft rule's many exemptions that would allow advisory bodies to continue operating in the dark.

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