Changes to bill limit Fusion Center's exemptions to subpoena

RICHMOND

A bill lambasted for the added privacy it would have given the state's terror data clearinghouse is more palatable now, opponents said Tuesday.

The measure would have exempted the Virginia Fusion Center's investigative and intelligence documentation from the state Freedom of Information Act and shield center employees from subpoenas in civil lawsuits concerning criminal intelligence information or terrorism investigations.

Open government watchdogs complained the bill, HB1007, was too broad.

A Senate subcommittee agreed Tuesday, making a host of technical edits to narrow the scope of the bill. The changes were pushed by Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach.

Among the tweaks, the bill now limits itself to just the center, excludes criminal investigative files from the FOIA exemption, and sets an annual review to determine whether the collected data are related to terrorism activities.

The subpoena exemption now only applies to people with access to the center's information.

Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, said the changes address most of the privacy and FOIA issues her group raised.

The press association and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government both lobbied against the bill. A coalition representative said she'll need time to decide what her group's stance will be now.

The Virginian-Pilot is a member of the press group and a founding partner of the coalition.

"Now I believe the bill does what the Virginia Fusion Center's role is," Stanley said, "which is to protect information about terrorism."

State Police Maj. Bob Tavenner also praised the compromise.

The legislation still has to pass the full Senate and then go back to the House of Delegates.

If the changes are OK'd there, the bill can go to the governor, who has said he supports it.

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com