West Virginia Press Association Staff Report
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Senate Committee on the Military, on Monday, advanced legislation intended to exempt certain government records from public accessibility under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Introduced by Committee Chair Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, SB 763 would create a new code section to clarify the status of records that currently have no uniform designation throughout the state.
Providing an overview of the bill was Committee Counsel Mindy Parsley, who said, “The purpose of this bill is to protect sensitive military information. The bill also defines what qualifies as sensitive military information, and outlines why such information is exempted from public records disclosure.”
Among other records, the bill would legally and officially exempt classified information, intelligence information, certain investigative reports, vulnerability assessments, and information that could potentially “threaten public safety, endanger military personnel, or provide a military advantage to an adversary” from public disclosure.
At the conclusion of Parsley’s explanation, Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, inquired as to the current policies regarding the disclosure of such records, asking, “Were these records FOIA-able?”
“One of the reasons for adding a new section (of code) is because it was sort of on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, and a little bit subjective,” Parsley replied. “You had different county clerks, or wherever you were getting the information from, kind of doing their own thing, for lack of a better term.”
“The idea of this bill is to make sure that there are guardrails,” Parsley added. “So, here’s what sensitive information is, here’s the definition, and here’s why it’s not for public disclosure – so every [entity] that has access to this information has clear standards for what they can and cannot publicly disclose.”
Without further discussion, SB 763 was approved by the committee, and will now be forwarded to the full Senate for further consideration.
In other business, the committee also approved another Weld-proposal, that being SB 681.
As again explained by Parsley, “The purpose of the bill is to revise the mandatory service obligation for the National Guard Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree program, from a minimum of 10 years as a practice obligation, to a mandatory service obligation as prescribed by the adjutant general.”
The language of the bill outlines how the “service obligation” is directly related to tuition reimbursement provided by the National Guard. According to the bill, the criteria for reimbursement eligibility is at the discretion of the adjutant general, and no more than two National Guard members may be chosen for reimbursement each calendar year.
SB 681 will also be reported to the full Senate with the committee’s recommendation for passage.
Prior to the meeting’s beginning, Sen. Caputo took a moment to welcome his “favorite” son-in-law, who was on-hand to observe the meeting. Caputo also thanked him for his continued military service.
“He’s a 20-year veteran staff sergeant in the Army Reserves,” Caputo said. “I’m real proud of him. He’s still active. He’s done a tour in Iraq, and a tour in Afghanistan, and he gave me two grandchildren. I couldn’t be more proud.”
