Before this month, if you won your public records lawsuit in Ohio you would get your records, but not necessarily win any attorney fees or statutory damages. Now, a new revision to the law overrules the outdated provision.

Last month’s court decision in Virginia ruled that the state’s judiciary is exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The state joins 18 others in blocking transparency to this branch of government.

Most requesters that file in Massachusetts have noted difficulty in obtaining records from the state. The Bay State has often been ranked as one of the worst in terms public access to information, and that’s in no small part owing to the fact that three branches of government - the judiciary, the legislature, and the office of the governor - are exempt from the public records law.