The law and the public’s rights. With: ANDY SNOOK, General Counsel for Gov. Brad Little and BETSY RUSSELL, IDOG president. Held Friday, Jan. 16, 2026 at 10 a.m.-12:30 MT.
Setting the Record Straight – How to access public data, meeting info online for free
January 5, 2026 by
From IDOG’s seminar on Wednesday, December 17, 1-3:30 p.m. MT, with: BRANDON WOOLF, Idaho State Controller.
Setting the Record Straight: Campaign Finance & Lobbying – The rules and how to access data
November 24, 2025 by
From IDOG’s seminar on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at 1-3:30PM with Phil McGrane, Idaho Secretary of State.
GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY – IDAHO PUBLIC RECORDS ACT, NOV. 28
November 30, 2023 by
Idaho Public Records Act – Tues., Nov. 28, 2023
GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY – OPEN MEETINGS, OCT. 25
October 27, 2023 by
Idaho Open Meeting Law – Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023
Download Brian Kane’s slide deck:
GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY – CAMPAIGN FINANCE/LOBBYING, SEPT. 27
September 27, 2023 by
Campaign Finance & Lobbying – Wed., Sept. 27, 2023
Download Phil McCrane’s PPT on Campaign Finance and Lobbying:
GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY – TRANSPARENT IDAHO/TOWNHALL IDAHO, AUG. 30
August 30, 2023 by
Transparent Idaho/Townhall Idaho, Wed. Aug. 30, 2023
There was some surprise news at the start of this fall’s first IDOG government transparency workshop on Aug. 30: Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, who was welcoming the audience and introducing the series of four sessions this fall, said, “As of this morning, I have a confession to make.”
“At 9 a.m. today, the State Board of Land Commissioners, of which I am one, just announced a special meeting on Friday at 9 a.m. to cure a mistake in a motion on open meetings. There was a mistake regarding the open meeting law, and so we’re working to cure that.”
McGrane noted that both he and the day’s lead speaker, state Controller Brandon Woolf, serve on the Land Board. Both also are outspoken advocates of government transparency. “So, to kick off IDOG and highlight openness in government … we want to kick it off by making sure we are open and transparent,” he said, “and hopefully encouraging not just state officials but local officials all around the state of Idaho to do the same.”
As reported by the Idaho Press, the violation occurred during the board’s Aug. 15 meeting in which board member Attorney General Raúl Labrador made a motion to go into executive session but did not cite the exemption under the Idaho Open Meeting Law that justified the closed-door meeting. The law requires that the code section be included in the motion. The violation was cured at the Sept. 1 special meeting by formally acknowledging the error by unanimous vote of the board, and re-doing the business at issue.
McGrane noted that the four IDOG sessions this fall, over four months, will cover transparency in finance, issues regarding lobbying and campaign finance, open meeting laws and public records.
Betsy Russell, IDOG president, also welcomed the participants, 80% of whom were participating online via Idaho Public Television’s InSession streaming service. “IDOG’s mission is to foster open government, supervised by an informed and engaged citizenry,” she said. “We believe that we all benefit when the public, the media and government officials are fully aware of the public’s rights to access government information and observe the conduct of the public’s business.”
Russell then introduced Woolf, who is in his third full term as the state’s elected controller. “Brandon started Transparent Idaho in 2012 to provide better access for Idaho citizens to state government financial data, and it has expanded significantly since then,” she said. “He has made government transparency a hallmark of his tenure as state controller.”
Woolf then discussed how public trust in government has been declining nationwide, after hitting a peak in 1964, and how transparency can restore trust, along with other benefits including deterring fraud and increasing accountability.
Woolf shared this quote: “Obscurity is the best friend of conspiracy.” That followed several other quotations shared by McGrane in his introduction, including this quote from Mother Teresa: “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.”
Woolf led participants through the Transparent Idaho website, transparent.idaho.gov; its features; and the extensive, searchable, up-to-date financial data available there, from public employee salaries to expenditures of taxpayer dollars. In addition to state government and agency financial information, along with data from the state’s four-year colleges and universities, the site now is in the process of adding local government and school district data as well.
Woolf also covered Townhall Idaho, townhall.idaho.gov, a site he and Gov. Brad Little launched in 2022 to serve as an online one-stop-shop for all public meeting information for state executive branch agencies.
At the close of his presentation, with McGrane and Russell as moderators, Woolf fielded questions from participants, including both those present in person in the Capitol’s Lincoln Auditorium and those participating online, who submitted their questions via email. Among the questions were some seeking information that’s not yet available on Transparent Idaho; Woolf pledged to continue increasing the data posted on the site, and said some of the information sought, including community college financial data, isn’t yet on the site but is on his team’s “to-do list.”
Here are some comments from the evaluations completed by participants in the Aug. 30 session:
From a citizen: “Congratulations on a fantastic job! I am very much heartened by the commitment to transparency and the encouragement of citizen engagement. Thank you to all for this fantastic tool and for educating us!”
From a state employee: “There is way more information on Transparent Idaho than I realized.”
From a reporter: “I didn’t know the Transparent Idaho website existed, which as a local reporter will be very useful. I look forward to looking at salaries and natural resource expenditures in each county.”
From a local elected official: “Thanks so much for putting this on! Sorry I couldn’t attend in person like I originally planned, but the online streaming option was SO convenient and worked perfectly.”
From a member of the news media: “There’s more data about local government entities available on the Transparent Idaho website than I realized. I can never get (my local) county officials to comply with requests for salary information. But, it’s on the Transparent Idaho website, so I can now easily find it. I look forward to that being the case for school districts as well.”
From a state employee: “I learned how to navigate the Transparent Idaho site and that some of the requests for information that we receive may be available there.”
From a citizen: “I plan to get more involved in state and local government now that I am retired and I believe some of what is available online as explained in the training will be helpful to me as I do that.”
From a citizen: “I am looking for employment, so knowing salaries of various state employees is helpful.”
From a former reporter and retired PIO: “I learned that Transparent Idaho is good for much more than finding out salaries. I particularly liked the primer on local government data.”
From a citizen: “Thank you for continuing this excellent programming!”
The full video of the Aug. 30 event, along with Woolf’s Powerpoint slides, are available for viewing at IDOG’s website, www.openidaho.org.
IDOG Seminar 2022 [full video]
January 7, 2022 by
On January 5, 2022, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Idahoans for Openness in Government hosted an online seminar to help educate the public on the state’s open meetings and public records laws.
Here is the full video:
Presentation decks and related materials:
Nearly 500 participate in IDOG session on Open Meetings in the Pandemic
January 12, 2021 by
Government transparency gets screen time
January 8, 2021 by
From the Coeur d’Alene Press
By MADISON HARDY
Staff Writer | January 8, 2021 1:06 AM
In the days of Zoom, teleconferences, and Youtube, Idaho’s general public has never had more accessibility to government meetings.
Officials like Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and the nonprofit Idahoans for Openness in Government hoped to continue this trend through a free virtual seminar Thursday afternoon.
Nearly 500 government officials and staff, news professionals and citizens participated in the “Open Meetings in the Pandemic: Setting the Record Straight” seminar, hosted by Wasden and IDOG President Betsy Z. Russell. Featuring Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane, the three panelists walked listeners through various scenarios and recommendations to navigate these uncertain times.
“No matter what the emergency is that we’re going through, or what the crisis is that we’re addressing, we still want to make sure that the government functions as openly and transparently as it possibly can,” Kane said.
A common issue addressed in the seminar was how entities could hold public meetings while acting under Gov. Brad Little’s gathering limitations and safety guidances. In March, one of the earliest executive orders set by Little was suspending the in-person requirement of open meetings.
While that provision expired in June, it created the issue of how public officials can comply with capacity limitations and legal code, Kane said.
Kane recommended entities conduct meetings online or through telecommunication outlets, have members of the body participate electronically, or provide overflow rooms in addition to the one physical location required under Idaho Code 74-2035.
“Maybe you’re not guaranteed to see the whites of a single board member’s eyes, but at least you know there is a physical location where the meeting is occurring,” Kane said.
With all options, Kane said it is best practice for entities to publish the gathering limitations before the meeting and provide instructions on how to access the forum, remote information, and the agenda.
“The worst possible spot for the government to be in under the pandemic and Open Meeting Law is to surprise the public when they show up to attend a meeting and learn that they can’t attend the way they wanted,” Kane said.
If access to a meeting’s video or audio becomes unavailable, the panel recommended the body to pause the conversation until the problem is resolved. Failing to stop the discussion has become one of the top issues the Attorney General’s Office has seen entities run into, Kane said.
“This is a really big deal, especially for reporters who are covering a meeting,” said Russell, a reporter for the Idaho Press. “That means we don’t have legal access to this meeting anymore, and in compliance with the Open Meeting Law, you have to provide that. I would urge boards and their staff to be cognizant of that.”
On hot-button issues, which have been plentiful during the pandemic, the panel suggested citizens sign up for testimony ahead of time — especially when a large gathering is expected.
Further, government entities should notify the public of meeting limitations, Kane said, like how long they will be allowed to speak, how many people will testify and if masks will be required.
“All of those things you want to have lined out before the meeting. If you try to do it after, it will be chaos and will very likely generate a complaint,” Kane said.
Since the governor’s executive order expired in June, most agencies have continued providing digital access to public meetings, aiding the public’s ability to observe from a safe distance.
“We may not get to get up on the stage or grab the mic, but we have a right to watch it, and that right needs to be preserved, even during the pandemic,” Russell said.
Due to the changes, Russell noted several agencies have built upon their telecommunication outlets, improving practices and bettering public access to information.
“I’d just like to put in a plug for the government to continue to stream all meetings, even after the pandemic,” she said. “While we were all forced into it by circumstances, it has made government more accessible to more people in Idaho, and that’s a good thing.”
Other recommendations made during the meeting:
- Rotate in-person board members
- Ensure broadcasting technology — cameras, microphones, recording technology — is working before and during a meeting
- Preplan remote testimony applications, meeting links, chat functions, host controls, and action strategies for problems that may occur mid-program
- If there are potential areas of concern, entities should consult their attorney
- Stream meetings online
- Post board meeting documents online in advance of the meeting for easy public access
- Identify speakers during online communications — mainly when visual identification is not an option
- Have minutes, or a recording, of the gathering available within a reasonable time afterward
- Have staff available to monitor IT-related issues
Info: Idaho Code, Title 74 https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title74/ ; IDOG www.openidaho.org
From the Coeur d’Alene Press