Archive for the ‘Nevada’ Category

The Colorado Board of Medical Examiners is expanding the range of information on doctors at its site. This data on new licensees is expected to be posted April 2008, but will only be gathered and posted for current licensees in 2009.

The following information will be disclosed:

* Name
* Aliases
* Current Address
* Telephone number
* Information regarding all medical licenses ever held
* Current Board Certifications
* Practice Specialty (ies)
* Affiliations with hospitals and health care facilities
* Current ownership interests in businesses
* Current employment contracts
* Public disciplinary actions against a medical license
* Agreements and Stipulations to temporarily cease medical practice
* Involuntary hospital or health care facility privileging actions
* Involuntary surrender of a DEA registration
* Criminal convictions or plea arrangements for felonies and crimes of moral turpitude
* Judgments, settlements and arbitration awards for medical malpractice claims
* Refusal by an insurance carrier to issue medical liability insurance

The Nevada Supreme Court has adopted rules for redacting and sealing court records. The court may order a file sealed or redacted for “identified compelling privacy or safety interests that outweigh the public interest in access to the court record.” The identity of the person who filed the motion to seal the court record must be recorded and kept a public record.

The Vermont Health Department is beginning the process of removing Social Security numbers from death certificates. In addition, proposed legislation would remove the cause of death from death certificates. Another bill would bar the posting of court cases on the Internet. Read all about it.

Nevada Supreme Court Schedules Public Hearing on Proposed Rules to Govern Sealing and Redacting of Court Records in Civil Cases.

Names of those arrested and detained in an immigration raid must be disclosed, as ordered by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. Documents were retained by the state’s Department of Public Safety, which made them subject to disclosure under the Connecticut open records law .

Washington State DOC to Seek Public Input in Development of New Electronic Disclosure Rules.

A Florida judge overruled a local school board in determining that the names of all school employees enrolled in the deferred retirement plan must be released under the state’s public records law.

Government agencies seem to have someone dedicated to moving their Web links to new addresses without a redirect link. You can find the Nevada Department of Corrections Offender Search at a new URL. The database includes current inmates but also those on release or no longer supervised.

If all goes according to current plans, by January 2008 Cook County, Illinois will become one of the first counties in the country to digitize vital records and make them available online. The birth, death and marriage records to be made available are not for recent events. The genealogical records include birth certificates that are at least 75 years old, marriage certificates more than 50 years old, and death certificates more than 20 years old.

A recommendation by the Nevada Supreme Court Commission on Preservation, Access and Sealing of Court Records would tighten the regulations on sealing court records. The current standard allows judges to seal records upon request. The commission policy would require a compelling reason for sealing court records and would authorize any member of the public to request a sealed record be opened. Reported in the Las Vegas Sun

Judges in Oklahoma counties are holding closed proceedings of special drug and mental health courts, even though they are not required to be closed. Judges are citing federal law which mandates health records be kept confidential.

The Colorado Supreme Court has instituted a new rule that delays the fulfillment of court record requests for up to 3 days, ostensibly to redact personal information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers and other personal-identification numbers, such as those on passports or student IDs. This is another instance of the current trend in government to give supremacy to personal privacy over the public’s right to know the activities of its government.

The Delaware Attorney General cannot oppose state agencies which decline public records requests, even when they do so in violation of the law. The News Journal sought salary information for employees of the Delaware Psychiatric Center. The Department of Health and Social Services denied the request, then the newspaper appealed to the Attorney General, who declined to take enforcement action.

The Delaware Psychiatric Center is an agency of state government and so the Department of Justice is precluded by statute from investigating any violations of the Freedom of Information Act alleged to have been committed by the Delaware Psychiatric Center.

Illinois has unveiled its Illinois Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry.

Search by name, city, zip code, county or offender status. Perhaps the kinks aren’t worked out, but I couldn’t get search results by any criteria. You can also map offenders, but only if you know the street address and zip code. Here’s what the database covers.

The CMVOY registry contains individuals convicted of specific crimes in which the victim was a minor, but the crime was not sexually motivated. The crimes – as defined by HB 4193, signed by Governor Blagojevich on June 27, 2006 – include kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, unlawful restraint, aggravated unlawful restraint, and any attempt to commit any of these offenses when the victim is under 18 years of age and when the defendant is not a parent of the victim. Other offenses include forcible detention, child abduction or murder when the victim was a person under 18 years of age and the defendant was at least 17 years of age.

A Santa Clara County, California Superior Court judged has ordered the county to make its GIS property parcel mapping database available to the public at minimal cost. The California First Amendment Coalition took the county to court, upending the government’s myriad excuses for keeping the map data out of public reach. Reported by AP

A new Texas Administrative Rule institutes a prohibition in the recording of personal information by notary publics.

There’s been much debate in legislatures and government administration about which public records should be sealed. The Texas legislature is considering whether to withhold search warrant affidavits for 60 days from public view. The Nevada Legislature failed to set guidelines or restrict judges from sealing court records and now the state Supreme Court may establish its own requirements.

Iowa State regulatory boards that license professionals such as doctors, nurses, dentists and psychologists will be required to release the record of formal charges against medical professionals that stem from patient complaints.

Gifts, investments, outside income, business relationships and other economic interests of top public agency employees and elected officials of San Bernardino County, California are now posted online in a database. Search by filer name, filing date, position or department name. San Bernardino is the first California county to put these records online, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

The Statement of Economic Interests, California Fair Political Practices Form 700, is filed each year with the government official’s home county, or with the state Fair Political Practices Commission for state elected officers, legislators, judges and court commissioners, and members of the state boards and commissions.

The San Bernardino County filings begin with 2006; the home addresses are redacted from the forms.

Maryland law now allows people arrested but not charged to expunge their police records.

The Nevada Senate is considering AB600, which has passed the Assembly, a bill that will allow people to redact their personal identifying information from public records which they previously filed. The last 4 digits of the Social Security number are not personal information and will be allowed on public records. The 4 number identifier will be required on judgments.

The Idaho state Supreme Court ruled that emails sent between county employees are public records.

Even though federal law makes certain student records confidential that does not prevent the public release of redacted student disciplinary records, according to a decision by the Montana Supreme Court.