Free seminars provide access education

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A series of identical seminars conducted around the state will educate government representatives on their obligations and citizen on their rights under Indiana’s public access laws.

Several HSPA-member newspapers will serve as local sponsors of the two-hour educational sessions organized by Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Indiana Public Access Counselor Andrew Kossack and HSPA.

For dates and times of the public access seminars, click here.
To register, click here and select “Public Access Seminar” under “Event.”

“To gain and maintain the trust of the public, government must be open and transparent in the way it conducts the public’s business,” Zoeller said in a letter announcing the series.

At least seven sessions of the free seminar on the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act will be conducted. The first will be May 5 in Indianapolis.

The panel of speakers during each seminar will include Kossack, HSPA Executive Director and General Counsel Steve Key and Deputy Attorney General Anne Mullin O’Connor, who served as the state’s first public access counselor.

Organizers hope community-interest groups, elected officials and attorneys who represent local governments will attend, Key said. Attorneys can earn two hours of continuing legal education credit.

“This continues a heritage of public access law training sessions involving HSPA,” Key said.

The roster of seminars includes seven sessions, but other sites may be added:

• 10 a.m. to noon May 5, Indiana Government Center South auditorium, Indianapolis, sponsored by The Indianapolis Star

• 10 a.m.-noon May 11, Center for History, South Bend, sponsored by the South Bend Tribune

• 9-11 a.m. May 18, the Radisson Hotel, Merrillville, sponsored by The Times of Northwest Indiana

• 4-6 p.m. May 25, Venture Out Business Center, Madison, sponsored by the Madison Courier and Venture Out Business Center

• 10 a.m.-noon June 1, Indiana State University’s Hulman Memorial Student Union in Dede III, Terre Haute, sponsored by the Tribune Star (Terre Haute)

• 10 a.m.-noon June 8, Allen County Public Library, sponsored by The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne) and the Fort Wayne News Sentinel

• 10 a.m.-noon June 29, Evansville Vanderburgh Central Library, Evansville, sponsored by the Evansville Courier & Press.

To register, click here. Select “Public Access Seminar” under “Event.”
For more information, click here.