Compiled by David Robinson, FOIArkansas Project

A time line of some key events leading up to and following the enactment of Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act of 1967:

1965

December — Attorney general says 1953 open meetings law allows for secret meetings of public bodies if ''privileged'' matters are discussed. “Blame the law,” Richard B. Adkisson, chief assistant attorney general, told irate reporters, according to an Arkansas Gazette story.

1966

January — Arkansas editors and publishers of the Arkansas Press Association vote to push for a “clear and concise open meeting law during the next session of the General Assembly in order that the press not be hindered in attending and reporting fully the meetings of boards, agencies, commissions and all other bodies that have the responsibility of spending public funds.”

March — In a reversal of a Pulaski County chancellor’s ruling, the state Supreme Court rules that records of state funds deposited in Arkansas banks are public record. The Republican Party of Arkansas had filed suit for the records.

May — A Fayetteville chancellor rules that permanent voter registration lists in Madison County are public documents — another victory for the Republican Party.

1967

January —State Senate approves Freedom of Information bill 33-0.

February — House approves amended Freedom of Information bill 91-0.

February — Senate approves FOI bill a second time, 32-0, as amended by the House; Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller signs it into law.

April — New FOI law gets first test as Mayor Casey Laman of North Little Rock bans reporters from a meeting of the City Council with its attorney. The North Little Rock Times sues.

August — Attorney General says actions taken by public bodies in executive session are not valid unless the body reconvenes and votes in public.

August — Despite the new FOI Act, public bodies are still keeping information from reporters, says Sam G. Harris, director of public affairs and information for the Arkansas Gazette in a report to the General Provisions Committee of the Arkansas Constitutional Revision Study Commission.

1968

January — Arkansas’ FOI Act is more tightly drawn than that of other states, Legislative Council study finds.

October — The FOI Act survives its first state Supreme Court ruling, which says the act clearly outlaws meetings of public bodies conducted secretly on the ground that they are conferring with their attorneys.

1971

May — Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Guy Tucker promises to prosecute public officials who violate the FOI Act.

May — Tucker says he will look into reported FOI Act violations by the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.

May — Arkansas Gazette editorial says enforcement of the FOI Act has been “virtually non-existent,” and praises Tucker for his interest in enforcing the law.

July — Gov. Dale Bumpers issues an order for state agency heads to abide by the FOI Act.

October — Bumpers agrees to distribute to state agencies brochures entitled “The Right to Know,” which explain the FOIA.

November — Attorney General Ray Thornton says FOI Act does not permit the use of secret ballot voting by public bodies.

December — Bumpers sends another memo to agency directors, telling them: “Government belongs to the people, and it's the people's right to know.”

December — Arkansas Gazette editorial praises Bumpers and Thornton for giving the FOI Act a “boost.”

1973

February — House panel rejects bid to open governor’s cabinet meetings to the public.

February — Arkansas Gazette reporter Tucker Steinmetz sues Secretary of State Kelly Bryant for restricting access to corporate filings with Bryant’s agency.

March — Bryant ignores Pulaski County Circuit Court order to open files to the public. Arkansas Gazette lawyer Vincent Foster Jr. confronts Bryant; Bryant says Gazette using “Gestapo” tactics and files for stay with state Supreme Court. The high court upholds the lower court order. Bryant opens files to reporters.

1974

January — The Arkansas School Boards Association recommends amending the FOI Act to allow private meetings on student discipline and property purchases.

January — The Little Rock chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, pledges to fight efforts to weaken the FOI Act.

September — The Arkansas Bar Association considers ways to amend the FOI Act to allow for more private meetings of public bodies.

September — Arkansas Gazette editorial headline: “Leave the FOI Alone.”

September — A Pine Bluff Commercial editorial writes of the state’s leaders: “If they can't gut it ... they may try to pepper it to death with a lot of little exceptions.”

September — The Springdale News editorializes: “The problem area, as we see it, lies with the General Assembly. Hopefully, there will not be too many members of the legislature who have an axe to grind.”

1975

January — Sen. John F. “Mutt” Gibson of Dermott is accused by Sen. Allen of attaching a bill-killing amendment to a bill making more government records public.

January — Senate kills expanded FOI bill.

February — Arkansas Gazette editorial accuses Gibson and Sen. Max Howell of Jacksonville of having killed the measure by attaching a controversial amendment.

February — The Senate approves a new FOI measure that makes committee meetings of governing bodies open to the public.

March — House defeats measure passed by the Senate that would have expanded the types of records available to the public. The 1967 law had left a loophole by making public only those records required by statute. School officials were the primary opponents of the measure.

March — House defeats a measure to make committee meetings public.

May — State Supreme Court rules that committees of public bodies cannot meet in secret, reversing a Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling that allowed a reporter to be barred from committee meetings of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. Two hours after the ruling, the Legal Committee of the UA Board of Trustees meet in an unannounced, closed session and afterward refuses to say what had been discussed.

May — The Supreme Court decision on secret meetings is called “a great victory for freedom of information in this state,” by John Thompson, president of the Little Rock Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. The decision also was hailed by newspapers statewide, with their editorials being reprinted in an edition of the Arkansas Gazette.

December — Atlanta-based Southern Regional Council outlines weaknesses of state’s FOI Act following a study backed by eight state and local organizations.

1976

January — Arkansas Gazette editorial warns of a “wholesale revision”of the FOIA proposed in a Senate bill by Sen. John F. Bearden Jr. of Leachville.

January — Senate votes 27-6 to amend the FOIA making it easier to close meetings of public bodies.

January — Gov. David Pryor says he will veto the bill, saying it marks “the beginning of a gradual erosion of the Freedom of Information Act.”

February — The Pine Bluff Commercial appeals to the Arkansas Supreme Court a Jefferson County circuit court ruling that allowed a closed meeting by the state correction board to discuss the death of an inmate.

April — Lynn F. Wade, a Fayetteville lawyer and a former member of the state correction board, is honored for refusal to meet with other members of the correction board in an executive session to discuss an inmate’s death. Wade receives the first Freedom of Information Advocate award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi at Region 12 meeting.

December — Arkansas Supreme Court rules that governing bodies cannot meet informally, even if a quorum is not present.

1977

February — Arkansas Gazette asks state Supreme Court to direct Circuit Judge Henry M. Britt of Hot Springs to stop excluding reporters from in-chambers hearings.

February — Rep. Boyce Alford of Pine Bluff, who opposed expanding access to government documents, is criticized on editorial pages across the state for saying, “the press and the public already know too much.”

March — Gov. Pryor signs into law a measure by Sen. John F. Bearden of Leachville that broadens the definition of public records, although Pryor says he is concerned that some records could be exploited for commercial gain.

March — Pryor issues executive order in an attempt to restrict access to documents, such as driver’s license records, from commercial uses.

April — Arkansas Supreme Court says the correction board did not violate the FOI Act by meeting in closed session to discuss the death of an inmate, as well as other policy matters.

April — Arkansas Supreme Court rules the Arkansas Committee of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, a private organization, is subject to provisions of the FOI Act because it is supported by public funds.

April — Following the two Supreme Court decisions, an Arkansas Gazette editorial says it can't make sense of the court’s “widely divergent attitudes” on the FOI Act.

1979

February — Municipal Judge Fred Engeler of Mountain Home gets no support in a bid to stop the Baxter Bulletin from printing court convictions and fines. Engeler had asked the Mountain Home City Council and the Chamber of Commerce to oppose the newspaper’s practice.

1980

July — Circuit Judge John Cole of Sheridan orders members of the Benton Board of Directors to stop holding secret meetings in violation of the FOI Act.

1982

June — Three members of the Clinton Road Water Improvement District 328 are arrested and charged with violating the FOI Act.

September — Heber Springs Mayor H.G. “Boxie” Smith is arrested on an FOI Act violation charge.

October — William Arnold, a Crossett lawyer and past president of the Arkansas Bar Association, says in an Arkansas Gazette column that the media is infringing on the rights of criminal defendants by publishing information that could prejudice a jury.

1983

January — A Springdale News editorial criticizes the Arkansas Municipal League for planning an attempt to weaken the FOI Act.

January — The Nashville School Board violated the FOI Act by discussing the creation of a new position while in executive session, rules Howard County Circuit Judge Ted C. Capeheart.

March — Rep. Lloyd McCuiston of West Memphis withdraws a bill that would have weakened the FOI Act, saying he did not want to “get into a fight with the newspapers.” The Arkansas School Boards Association and the state Municipal League backed the bill.

1985

January — Journalist groups file suit against the Eureka Springs mayor and city council for allegedly meeting in closed session to discuss a property tax increase, which it passed in a public vote without discussion.

January — Prosecutor David Clinger of Bentonville charges the Eureka Springs mayor and city council with violation of the FOI Act.

April — Mistrial declared in Eureka Springs case after jury deadlocks on the matter. Prosecutor won’t seek new trial, drops charges.

April — Eureka Springs Alderman William King, who had pled guilty to the FOI Act charge prior to the trial, pays $25 fine and $57.25 in court costs.

June — Eureka Springs mayor and aldermen acknowledge they violated the FOI Act in a settlement of the civil suit by journalist groups, but the agreement says there is no evidence the violation was “willful or intentional.”

1989

February — The state Supreme Court rules that Attorney General Winston Bryant violated the FOI Act by refusing to turn over internal documents concerning an Arkansas Western Gas Co. natural gas price case.

1990

December — State Supreme Court rules in a suit brought by the Springdale News that the city of Fayetteville could not, under the FOI Act, withhold records by putting them in the hands of a private attorney who has been substituted for the city attorney.

1991

September — The Fayetteville School District releases a recently fired superintendent's personnel file 11 days after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette filed suit alleging that withholding the file violated the FOI Act.

December — The state Supreme Court rules in a case brought by the publisher of the Pine Bluff Commercial that jail logs “must be available for reasonable inspection at all times during ... hours of operation.”

1992

November — The Craighead County Sheriff's Office should have released the names of three juveniles arrested on a variety of federal charges, including murder, the state Supreme Court says in reversing a lower court decision in FOI Act lawsuit by The Jonesboro Sun.

1993

January — Journalist groups meet to prepare for proposed legislation that would exempt litigation files of government attorneys from the FOI Act.

February — An amendment to the FOI Act is filed that would delay the disclosure of documents produced by attorneys defending local, county or state agencies during the course of litigation.

March — Senate committee defeats proposed FOI Act amendment on access to attorneys’ papers.

1995

November — State Supreme Court rejects a Fort Smith group's effort to obtain Arkansas Health Department information showing the number of abortions performed in Sebastian, Crawford and Washington counties.

1998

March — State Supreme Court rules that a Fort Smith lawyer had no right under the state's Freedom of Information Act to be given the home addresses of two local police officers, saying it would be an “unwarranted invasion of privacy.”

December — The state Supreme Court strikes down a lower court ruling that barred Attorney General Winston Bryant from suing for public access to Gov. Mike Huckabee's anti-corruption telephone hotline records. A circuit judge had said only a private citizen could challenge Huckabee's refusal to open the records.

1999

April — State Attorney General Mark Pryor says two quorum court members can meet and discuss business, but they can't violate the intent of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by gathering in a series of small groups to lobby for a cause.

April — The state Supreme Court rules that public bodies don't have to notify the news media of special meetings if the media haven't requested they be notified. Sebastian County Circuit Judge John G. Holland had ruled that a special meeting of the Huntington mayor and city council to fire the police chief was illegal because all news media in Sebastian County were not notified of the meeting.