Sunshine Fest 2026
March 15-17, 2025 • Washington, D.C.
Handouts and Supplemental Materials
Monday, March 16
Plenary: Promoting transparency
Welcome remarks by Johns Hopkins Interim Dean Douglas Mao, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Dean Hub Brown, Brechner FOI Project Director David Cuillier, and Berl Brechner, whose family’s endowments allow Sunshine Fest to happen. Then we discuss how to engage the public, lawmakers and donors in FOI. Presenters will discuss effective messaging for promoting freedom of information, educating the public, and welcoming those often left out.
Document Divide study showing lack of diversity in the FOI community (PDF)
Open The Government 2018 Messaging Toolkit
UK guide for educators on right to environmental information (park education site)
John Cusack: Time to drop paywalls for FOIA reporting [YouTube]
Carnage: DOGE, populism, and backslide
A discussion about the impact of political forces on freedom of information, including DOGE purges, populist regimes around the world, and trickle down to the states – and how to reverse the tide. Session to include a Spanish translator, so attendees may ask questions in Spanish if they wish.
Mexico commission study: Transparency Guardians [PDF]
Lessons From the Dissolution of Mexico’s Information Commission [PDF]
Vexing dilemma
How do we mitigate the harm of unduly burdensome requests on agencies without restricting the flow of information? Solutions will be laid out from a two-year study, and then audience members will get to vote on the best ones and suggest others. We also learn from the UK – one of the first countries to address vexatious requests by statute.
Examples of how UK applies law to vexatious requests (UK Info Commissioner)
Court transparency
Court records are supposed to be public. But what do we mean when we say “court records” anyway? Hear from reporters, lawyers and advocates about the state of judicial transparency and what we can do to open up the courts — both state and federal.
Proposed bill text: A Judicial Open Records Act [PDF]
Research revelations
Top research in freedom of information is presented, shedding light on the landscape and prompting more questions to be studied. Includes winners of the NFOIC FOI research competition and the Brechner Journal of Civic Information research competition.
Data Deserts and the Duty to Document [PDF]
How Pattern or Practice Claims Can Clear a Path for Structural FOIA Reform [PDF]
FOIA’s Future: Agentic AI’s Potential to Transform the FOIA Requester eXperience [PDF]
FOI journalism
Journalists who cover freedom of information provide suggestions for how news organizations can better explain government transparency and empower the public.
Your Right to Know [Amazon.com]
A visual guide on how to FOIA [PDF]
‘Disclosure’: A New Podcast About the Fight for Government Records [Bloomberg.com]
Some of the best news stories start with a public records request [Poynter.org]
Commercial partnerships
Freedom of information laws grease the nation’s economic machine. How can civil society and commercial information providers work together to advance their mutual interests?
Slide deck from Richard Varn on ID theft and redaction [PDF]
State of access on personal identifiers [PDF]
Data brokers, data providers, public records, and regulation: Finding the right balance [PDF]
Enhancing security for public employees [PDF]
Litigation, past and future
Attorneys recap major decisions affecting freedom of information at the state, federal and global levels, and where it could go in the future.
January 6, 2021: Saving the Truth from the Whitewash [medialaw.org]
Open data
Advances in affirmative disclosure. Why wait for a request? Post it online first! And what happens when certain regimes start taking it back down?
About the UCSF-JHU Opioid Industry Document Archive [PDF]
Tuesday, March 17
Plenary: FOI champions
We hear from dedicated requesters who improved their communities through public record laws. Be prepared to be inspired and assured that freedom of information does indeed matter!
Disappearing Data Tip sheet 2026 [PDF]
Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back [Amazon] [Bookshelf.org]
Illinois student wins 2025 FOI Award for exposing safety issues for student-athletes [splc.org]
Town Sues Senior Citizen for Filing Too Many Public Record Requests [nbcnewyork.com]
First Amendment advocate to receive award for Right-to-Know work [unionleader.com]
Some of the best news stories start with a public records request [poynter.org]
Criminalizing FOI
We hear from dedicated requesters who improved their communities through public record laws. Be prepared to be inspired and assured that freedom of information does indeed matter!
Criminalizing FOI Session Links [PDF])
Journalist speaks out after attempt to silence him with a restraining order [freedom.press]
Tampa fire chief ordered police called on a local journalist asking for records [tampabay.com]
When Truth Becomes A Crime: Inside The Campaign To Silence WikkiTimes [crossriverwatch.com]
Advice for the advisers
Members of the federal FOIA Advisory Committee present their latest recommendations and ask the audience for feedback. On the right track, or off the rails?
Advice for the advisers PowerPoint slides [PDF]
Discussion draft: Recommendation xx: Make the FOIA Advisory Committee a Non-Discretionary FAC [PDF]