Read more of this blog at startribune.com/fulldisclosure.
My Sunday column tallied the open government and data bills that emerged from the (regular) 2015 legislative session and pronounced it an overall win. Some of them were long in the making: The new accountability measures for license plate cameras took nearly three years of wrangling.
The Legislature also enacted reforms in child protection that include greater public access to case histories when children are killed or suffer life-threatening injuries as the result of abuse or neglect. This change, along with the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision last month to maintain public access to key child protection records in juvenile court, is a vote of confidence in public scrutiny to improve this vital role of government. Now it's up to the public to use that power.
