A database of convicted drunk drivers is slated to go online by the end of 2008, hosted by the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Ohio’s SB 17 mandates the creation of an Internet registry listing personal information on repeat offenders. Read the press release that details the characteristics of the Habitual OVI/OMWI Offender Registry.

All offenders having 5 or more OVI/OMWI convictions (or equivalent offenses) in the past 20 years must be listed on the Registry, to include:
• Offender’s name
• Date of birth
• Residential address including street address, municipal corporation or township, county and zip code
• Number of times within the preceding 20 years the offender has been convicted of an OVI/OMWI violation
• Dates of OVI/OMWI violation

The Registry must be made available to the public online, to be searchable by the offender’s name, county or zip code.

Add this to the growing collection of boutique criminal registries.

Here we go again, another incident involving a private investigator that tarnishes the reputation of an entire profession all in the name of making a quick buck.

A local Ohio newspaper is now reporting that a worker at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has allegedly admitted to selling the Social Security numbers and other non-public personal information of injured workers’ to a private investigator.

The private investigator has not been identified, but the case has been referred to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office for possible criminal prosecution.

While it doesn’t appear that the information provided was being used for identity theft, the bureau is still notifying 49 injured workers whose personal information appears to have been was compromised.

These incidents only provide legislators with more ammunition to exclude licensed private investigators from legitimate access to valuable personal information.

One can only hope that those PIs who are willing to break the law, or forget about professional ethics, are caught and punished.

What do you think about this incident?

Complaints by residents in Oregon has lead to the removal of some property owner’s names from PortlandMaps, the city’s online mapping program of assessor’s data and building permits. Portland offers a vague explanation for the decision to allow a search by address only.

Ohio media outlets may have to add a requirement to the standard job description: must have photographic memory. That is, if they want to peruse particular public records which cannot be copied. That’s the law in Ohio. The opinion of the Ohio Attorney General adds absurdity to confusion in his assertion that reporters can inspect the gun permit owner lists kept by the Sheriffs’ offices but are not allowed to write anything down. Keep your eyes peeled for a clarifying law, sure to be stupider than the first.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Attorney General has issued an opinion that may make police agency’s records more available to the public. The AG stated that a 1991 state Supreme Court ruling exempting from the open records law district attorney files does not apply to police reports. A police spokesperson objected, claiming that open access would give a defense attorney “tactical advantage over a prosecutor who has not yet examined the police reports”, according to this story. Will someone make a list of all the arguments public agencies have offered for keeping public records out of our hands?

Search court trial records statewide for Minnesota, including criminal civil, probate and family law. A search for judgments is also here.

The Ohio Supreme Court has proposed rule changes that will redefine the term “public records” and affect access to court case records [See"Proposed amendments to the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio Rules 44-47] Suggested changes include:

(a) Redacting the case information rather than limiting public access to the entire record;

(b) Limiting remote access to either the case record or case information while
maintaining its public access;

(c) Limiting public access to either the case record or case information for a specific period of time;

(d) Using a generic title or description for the case record or case information in a case management system or register of actions;

(e) Using initials or other identifier for the parties’ proper names.

Read the court summary.

The open records advocacy group, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, has released a study of the consequences of restrictive and open adoption laws. The Institute concludes that new adoption laws that have given adoptees and birth parents access to the original birth certificates has advanced the policy debate “from speculation about the appropriateness, wisdom and impact of such legal changes to a more-informed consideration of their personal, practical and social effects on real people’s real lives.”

Of all the harebrained ideas, the restriction of Wisconsin court records online is sure to be defeated in the legislative committee. The bill’s author claimed that Assembly Bill 418 would alleviate employment discrimination against people with criminal records. Keep an eye open for a revised bill that would limit access to those who can pay.

And even when state legislatures extend public records access – as the Ohio legislature did in the last General Assembly – confusion can lead to closure of records formerly open to the public. The Ohio court clerks are awaiting training on the Public Records Act, as the law requires, before returning access to court records.

A New Mexico judge agreed with a private investigator who brought suit against the state that the records of previous tax sales is a public record. Eric Griego had sought the Department of Taxation and Revenue records listing sales of property seized and sold by the state. The difference between the money made on the sale and the amount owed for taxes is supposed to be returned to the beneficiaries, who Griego located in his work as an heir hunter, but the agency had started denying his requests after complying for many years.

The Ohio Office of Homeland Security, which licenses security guards, is having trouble keeping an accurate count of licensees since a recent requirement went into effect that employers register each new security guard hire. [State system doesn’t allow exact accounting of security guards, CantonRep.com, May 29, 2007.]

The state estimates about 21,000 individuals holding security guard licenses but says that number could be inflated by as much as 3,000 since employees are registered each time they go to work for a new company, meaning some could be registered multiple times.

Meanwhile, changes in access to public records in Ohio may make it difficult for even law enforcement to do background checks. Recently passed legislation shields personal information in public records on some government employees and their family members.

The New York Drug Dealer Registry Act, recently introduced legislation, would require drug dealers with felony convictions to register upon release from prison.

The North Carolina Court of Appeal ruled against a newspaper that sought clemency appeal applications under the state public records law. [North Carolina Appeals Court Holds That Public Records Act Does Not Apply to Clemency Applications, Media Law Prof, June 7, 2007]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agrees with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that juror names are releasable under the state public records act. The newspaper was rebuffed in its request for juror addresses. [Names of criminal trial jurors are public, RCFP, June 5, 2007]

The Arizona Court of Appeal agreed with Phoenix Newspaper, Inc. that a claim for damages made against a school district is a public record, even in the case of a rape of a minor. [Ruling: Rape victim's compensation claim public record, Arizona Republic, June 12, 2007]

The online versions of mainstream newspapers continue to distinguish themselves by collecting public records, then making them searchable in a database. I mentioned two sites in a posting last week – DataUniverse (New Jersey) and DataCentral (Iowa). The Boston Herald is doing its part to sunshine the workings of the Massachusetts state government in a database identified as the 2007 State Employee Payroll. This database is unique in collecting public records from the government and making them easily accessible to the public, in a form not otherwise available. Search by partial last name or agency, or combine the two. A search identifies the department, the employee’s name, the job description, weekly hours and annual rate of pay. [Via Media Nation]

The Tennessee Leaf-Chronicle isn’t giving us a unique database but it is linking to some of the public records online databases at the government Web sites.

The Honolulu Advertiser’s Boating Safety Searchable Database is drawn from Coast Guard accident reports. Not all states are included and the site has few details on the extent of the data and the compiling process. Some document images of accident reports are here. The newspaper also has links to selective public records databases hosted at government sites.

Search high school graduates, government salaried employees and high school athletes for selective counties and municipalities in Kentucky and Indiana, at the Courier-Journal DataCenter. Plot property transfers in Jefferson County, Kentucky on a map. Search by street or zip code and sort by date, address or sales price.

Death Notices, building permits and smoking complaints are among the databases collected at this Cincinnati, Ohio paper.

Search Indiana state employee salaries by name and the Indiana Attorney General consumer litigation by company name. Indiana State Police speeding violations are searchable by name or location for the past 6 months.

The Des Moines Register has a variety of types of personal information databases that it has assembled from Iowa state government records. Court fines and business executive salaries are available statewide. Vital records indexes, property transfers, high school graduates and bankruptcies for Polk County can be searched by partial name. Records are indexed for 2007 only.

Check your area Gannett newspaper for their public records databases and public records directories.
[Thanks to Mark Schaver at Depth Reporting for many of these links.]

UPDATE: The FirstGov site has changed its site name and URL to USA.gov. An added feature is Live Assistance, a real time Web chat service to find out about “federal agencies, programs, benefits, or services.”

The government Web portal for Georgia is announcing a name change for the federal government site Firstgov.gov, due January 11.

The official Web portal of the U.S. government is changing its name — to USA.gov. FirstGov.gov will become USA.gov and FirstGov en español.gov will become GobiernoUSA.gov.

The reason? “It is cumbersome to say and difficult to remember. On the other hand, “USA.gov” clearly describes the site.”

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has directed the state Attorney General to explain his reasoning that police investigatory files are not subject to the Right-To-Know law, New Hampshire’s public records act. [Thanks: MediaLaw]

The Michigan governor has signed into law a restriction on the release of statements given by law enforcement officers involved in internal affairs investigations.

AP reports that a new law allows Ohio reporters, but not the general public, to examine gun permits but not to copy them.

The Ohio Supreme Court decided that a publicly funded, privately run mental heath service is not subject to the public records law, even though it operates almost entirely on government funds.

Well, at least the Wisconsin Appeals Court recognizes that a government agency cannot hand off to a private company requests by the public for real property records.

In response to a 2006 state law, the Ohio Attorney General has created an online searchable database called, Sexual Civil Child Abuse Registry (SCCAR). The database is “a civil registry of persons found liable in a declaratory judgment action for assault or battery based on childhood sexual abuse.”

The law enforcement departments that track gun permit holders are not keeping their records current, according to an article on permits issued to New York pistol owners. The newspaper has posted the names and addresses of licensees in two New York counties.

The Argus Leader has posted a searchable database of all weapon permit holders in South Dakota, which the newspaper obtained just before a state law made those names confidential in July 2006.

The Ohio Attorney General has a database of conceal carry weapon instructors that can be searched statewide by name. Select “unknown” from the alphabetical county list (just after Union) to search statewide. Results include the instructor’s telephone number.

Concealed carry laws and topical discussions can be found at Packing.org.

A new player in the very active online real estate listings competition is PropertyShark, which, unlike Zillow, provides the current owner at an address, and also customizes demographic maps for the geographical region of an address.

At the Zillow site you can look for real property valuations and aerial photographs by property address. It covers many more cities than does PropertyShark but the tools at this site are a unique supplement to the other property listing and mapping Web sites.

A PropertyShark search by address (after free registration) returned a profile with the current ownership, last deed transfer, demographic maps, building permits, neighbors and nearby property sales. Coverage is strongest in New York, particularly Manhattan, for which there are photographs of properties, but take a look at all the site features. Cities in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Washington, Oregon and California are currently included.

Map your life in Los Angeles and plot crime and property sales within the circumference of a specific address.

Verify voter registration at the Ohio Secretary of State with a last name, county and zipcode. The Ohio SOS Web site also has an unusual database:
lookup a licensed minister.

Search voter registration records at the Arkansas Secretary of State by first and last name, and date of birth.

Vinelink now has a statewide jail search for inmates in Washington state.

Reports written by private investigators for their government clients may be a public record, was the message in a ruling by the California 3rd Appellate District in BRV, Inc. v. Siskiyou County Superior Court. The court determined that the report California investigator Diane Davis prepared for her client, Dunsmuir Joint Union High School District must be released to the petitioner.

The petition for extraordinary writ is granted.
The District shall release to BRV the Davis report in its entirety, subject first to redacting the names of students, parents, staff, and faculty other than Morris or elected members of the District’s Board. Costs and reasonable attorney fees in this proceeding are awarded to petitioner. (cite)
Except as may othewise be ordered by the California Supreme Court, the writ shall become effective, and release of the report is required, 30 days following issuance by this court of the remittitur.

The Ohio Supreme Court wrestled with the question of whether a private agency that is substantially supported by government funds is subject to the public records law. The court majority in the 4-3 split decision ruled against open records, a blow to government transparency. Read the AP story

The Lafayette Parish Sheriff has updated their Web site, listing all active warrants in real time. Once the warrant is withdrawn it is removed from the site.

Many state appeals and supreme courts post their decisions at their Web sites and will deliver newly issued opinions, some with captions and summaries, to you by email or syndication. Look at your state’s court site to determine if it offers a notification service.

The Iowa Court of Appeals offers email notification of “supreme court opinions, court of appeals opinions, press releases and orders.” Conversely, the New Jersey judiciary Web site posts opinions and calendars of upcoming decisions but doesn’t have a built-in notification. In this case, I use the low-cost service, WatchThatPage, which sends me the new content whenever this Web site is updated. I receive case summaries that look like this.

A-52-05 State v. Saleem Crawley (58,340)
Where police officers, in response to an anonymous tip about criminal activity, requested defendant to stop and answer some questions because he matched the description provided in the tip, can defendant be found guilty of obstruction for running away? Certification granted: 10/12/2005
Argued: 2/15/06
Decided: 7/24/06

I can then go to the court site to read the full opinion. Rutgers Law library has constructed an RSS feed for New Jersey appeals and tax cases.

Even better, the Utah Appellate Court provides real-time delivery of court opinions by RSS, a free means of receiving updated content from user selected sites. The RSS program I like is Bloglines. Here you can collect and read all your dynamically refreshed content at one Web site.

Ohio, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Nevada and Maryland all distribute court opinions by RSS. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinions are also syndicated.

The Ohio Supreme Court has affirmed that juvenile court proceedings must be open to the public. The decision also requires a public hearing before any juvenile matter brought before courts is conducted in secret. Reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Ohio legislature has approved SB17, mandating that the attorney general establish an Internet civil registry of individuals for whom a declaratory judgment has been issued, “finding that the person would have been liable for assault or battery based on childhood sexual abuse but for the expiration of the limitation period.” The Toledo Blade reports on this first-of-a-kind registry that identifies suspected sex offenders who have not been criminally or civilly prosecuted.

The bill also makes protection orders or consent agreements that have been issued in any one county available in all others.

Minnesota Secretary of State adds address information to their online corporation search.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming a state law that allows disclosure of records of private entities that are receiving government funds. The case facts are presented in the opinion summary.

In a unanimous decision announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the Auditor of State has authority to conduct a special audit of Oriana House, a private corporation that operates the Summit County Community-Based Correctional Facility. The Court also held that the auditor was within her authority to subpoena records of Correctional Health Services, one of several Oriana subsidiaries, but exceeded her authority by subpoenaing the personal financial records of Oriana House CEO James Lawrence.

Read the RCFP news report.

A few months ago, I reported on the North Dakota Attorney General’s opinion that publicly funded private entities may be subject to that state’s records disclosure laws.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued an opinion that reaffirms prior rulings that it is incumbent upon court clerks to redact social security numbers from files before releasing them to the public.

The court cited the Ohio Attorney General’s opinion, (2004 Ohio
Atty.Gen.Ops. No. 2004-045):

Because individuals possess a constitutionally protected privacy right in their social security numbers,
such numbers when contained in a court’s criminal case files are not public records for purposes of R.C. 149.43

A letter from the AG states his opinion and case law on this topic.