Press release: New University of Florida Study Ranks States’ Records Access Laws – The project’s panel of experts, known as the Sunshine Review Board, compared the state laws for 30 categories of legal provisions related to records requests and ranked them on a Sunshine Index for openness. The overall ranking is based on states’ performance in six subcategories: redaction (removing sensitive information mixed with public data); copying, inspection and delivery of records; requester requirements; agency responsibilities to manage the records; request specifications; and agency responsiveness. The study showed that Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts had more requester-friendly requirements including whether a requester has to state a purpose for his request, present identification or be a U.S. citizen or state resident to request a public record.