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Removing Delaware Universities from FOIA Exemption

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DOVER, Del. (AP) - Some lawmakers say the University of Delaware and Delaware State University should be subject to more public scrutiny.

A  House committee was to convene Thursday to consider a bill revising Delaware's Freedom of Information Act to remove an exemption for the two schools.

The universities receive millions of dollars in taxpayer money each year, but are mostly exempt from FOIA. The law currently applies only to their expenditure of state funds and to full board meetings of their trustees. The universities otherwise are not subject to open records and open meetings laws for public bodies.

Previous legislative efforts to end the FOIA exemption have failed. The latest attempt comes amid controversy surrounding plans for construction of a power plant in Newark on land owned by the University of Delaware.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.