Oregon Public Records Advocate to Host Two Public Trainings

Oregon Secretary of State sent this bulletin at 09/21/2018 12:02 PM PDT

Have you ever wanted to do your own research into the decisions or activities of your local, state, or federal government? 

Oregon’s Public Records Advocate, Ginger McCall, will be hosting two public trainings on October 8th in Milwaukie, OR and October 15th in Portland, OR. These trainings will cover the basics of how to make a public records request under both the Oregon Public Records Law and the Federal Freedom of Information Act. We will cover:

  • How to decide which public records law is appropriate
  • How to draft a request, how to identify the correct agency
  • What kinds of fees requesters may face – and how to get them reduced
  • What exemptions allow the government to withhold information
  • How to challenge public records fees, exemptions, and delays

Ms. McCall was appointed by Governor Brown as Oregon’s first Public Records Advocate in January 2018. Prior to opening the Office of the Public Records Advocate, Ms. McCall, an attorney, represented both open record requesters and the government. She has served as an Attorney Advisor at the United States Department of Labor, where she reviewed and revised proposed open record regulations, worked with components of the Department of Labor to fulfill Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, defended the Department in FOIA litigation, and commented on proposed FOIA legislation. Previously, Ms. McCall was the Associate Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest research center, where she directed the EPIC's Open Government Program. She made regular FOIA requests, managed EPIC's FOIA litigation, and worked on a variety of related issues, including consumer privacy protection, international privacy law, and national security matters.

Attendance is limited to the first fifty attendees for each training session. To register, please email Ginger McCall at ginger.mccall@oregon.gov.

The October 8th session will also be webcast (details below).

 

Trainings:

October 8, 2018, 5:30PM

10722 SE Main St.

Milwaukie, OR 97222

This training will also be streaming live on the City of Milwaukie’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRFbfqe3OnDWLQKSB_m9cAw

 

October 15, 2018, 5:30PM

1800 SW 6th Ave #550

Portland, OR 97201