Law Commons^™

Searching For Patterns In The Laws Governing Access To Records And Meetings In The Fifty States By Using Multiple Research Tools, Bill F. Chamberlin, Cristina Popsecu, Michael F. Weigold, Nissa Laughner

UF Law Faculty Publications

Freedom of Information (FOI) advocates, mass communication scholars, journalists, and public policymakers often have asked which public access laws are the "best" in the country. The answer is elusive, even using a variety of research methodologies. Prior research has focused on studying only one aspect of these laws in the fifty states or by ranking every state on a limited number of criteria considered by a scholar to be necessary for an "ideal" law. No study thus far has effectively and systematically attempted to rank all state public records and open meeting laws in their entirety.

Assuming that the "best" …