AUGUSTA — An effort to create a unified ethics code of conduct for state workers following a scandal in which workers at the Maine Centers for Disease Control destroyed public documents in 2013 took its first tentative steps toward a law change Wednesday. The document destruction in question came in advance of an anticipated Freedom […]
foaa
Posted inMaine
State Police move to shield sensitive data in 911 calls
AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Public Safety hopes lawmakers will change the state’s public information law that would allow them to shield 911 call information of victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. A bill being proposed by the department also would strengthen provisions in state law that prohibit the release of personal medical […]
advertisement
Posted inMaine
Remaining four parts of nearly $1 million welfare study all past due
AUGUSTA — The final portion of a controversial five-part study of the state’s welfare system that’s costing Maine taxpayers $925,200 is due Thursday, but, according to state officials, only the first part of the study — due Dec. 1, 2013 — has been turned in. Maine has paid the Rhode Island-based Alexander Group $501,760, more […]
Posted inMaine
LePage vetoes bill that sought greater government transparency
AUGUSTA — A bill that would have opened records on industrial hazardous waste and mercury emission control plans was vetoed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage on Earth Day. Under current law, the plans are protected as “trade secrets.” The bill, LD 1821, would have upheld the current requirement for government agencies to acknowledge a request […]
Posted inMaine
Maine prohibits state employees from texting for official business
AUGUSTA — State employees are no longer allowed to send texts or instant messages about official state business. The Governor’s Office this week added a clause to the state’s public communications policy requiring all electronic communication about official business to go through the state’s email system rather than an unofficial email, text-messaging or instant-message system. […]
Posted inMaine
Committee approves measures meant to bolster Maine’s open meetings law
AUGUSTA — Phoning it in may no longer be an option for elected and appointed officials, especially when it comes to voting, if a bill before the Maine Legislature is approved. Thursday the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee approved a measure designed to ban most public officials from participating in meetings or voting on issues by phone […]
Posted inMaine
Maine supports 4,500 state employee phones on text-messaging systems
AUGUSTA — As many as 4,500 state workers may have access to smartphone text-messaging technology that could easily be used to skirt Maine’s open records law. How many employees actually use the phones, either state-issued or personal, to conduct state business is unknown and according to some, simply not happening. “Despite all the hysteria and […]
Posted inMaine
State employees could be using texts to subvert Maine’s open records law
AUGUSTA — It’s not unusual for state employees in Maine to carry two mobile phones with them these days. The governor’s press secretary and communications director do it, so does the legislative liaison for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, as does the DHHS commissioner. Often one of the phones is state-issued and […]
Posted inMaine
Maine CDC officials decline invitations to testify
AUGUSTA — A legislative committee wants to hear about a document-shredding scandal from Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials, but none of the officials invited to testify has agreed to do so. It was unclear Monday whether the Government Oversight Committee would exercise its power to subpoena the officials at the heart of […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
FOAA: LePage’s office flooded with records requests
AUGUSTA (AP) — A Maine legislative panel is examining whether to set a deadline for government officials to release documents sought under freedom-of-information laws, but those officials argue it can take months to fulfill such requests because of a bombardment of queries seeking hundreds of pages of records. The Republican governor’s office says responding to […]