California citizens passed a new open government proposal on Nov. 2 that embeds requirements for open records and meetings into the state constitution. The measure, Proposition 59, passed with 83 percent supporting it. Although California has state open records and meetings laws, they have been weakened by court decisions, agency interpretations, and other actions to the point that adequate access to government information is not guaranteed. Both the California House and Senate unanimously passed the measure earlier this year. Specifically, the amendment will:

A recent open records audit by eight Indiana newspapers found the state still needs to make significant improvements in order to comply with its own open records laws. Journalists found mixed results to inquiries in all of Indiana's 92 counties.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a public meeting to announce two plans for reducing the burden of reporting for the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The first, scheduled for sometime in December, would propose simple changes to the TRI reporting forms in an effort to streamline the process. The second rulemaking, scheduled for June 2005, would contain a more substantial programmatic change, although EPA has not yet determined the exact nature of the change.