COEUR d’ALENE — Seats are nearly full for Tuesday's seminar on Idaho's public records and open meeting laws.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden will be in Coeur d’Alene to lead the informational session.

The free seminar, hosted by Idahoans for Openness in Government (IDOG), is open to interested citizens and recommended for government agency employees and reporters from all media.

Because space is limited, attendees should RSVP as soon as possible to [email protected] or by phone toll-free to (866) 336-2854. There are 51 people already signed up. Room capacity is 64.

The seminar will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the Spokesman-Review Building, 1st floor public meeting room, 608 Northwest Blvd.

Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane and IDOG President Betsy Russell will join Wasden in presenting the information.

Russell, a Spokesman-Review reporter who covers capitol news in Boise, worked in 2004, with Dean Miller, former editor of the Post Register in Idaho Falls, to form IDOG.

“As president of the Idaho Press Club, I was contacted by the National Freedom of Information Coalition to see if Idaho couldn't join the 40-some states that had broad-based, nonprofit freedom of information coalitions,” Russell told The Press.

Around the same time, Russell said Miller was looking for grant funds to help reprint the Idaho Attorney General's open meetings and public records manuals because state funds were running short.

The pair formed the 5013c nonprofit and set education as its main goal, Russell said, “because we believe we all benefit when the public, the media and government officials are fully aware of the public's rights to access government information and observe the conduct of the public's business.”

IDOG has held 19 open meetings and records seminars throughout the state since 2004. This is the first time they've returned to North Idaho since 2005. Similar seminars are set to take place next week in Sandpoint, Lewiston and Moscow. The sessions are funded in part by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

“All of our seminars have been led by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who has partnered with IDOG in this project,” Russell said.

Wasden’s office recently published a new version of its Public Records Law Manual, and just released an updated version of its Open Meeting Law Manual. The November 2011 version incorporates recent changes to the law. It is available on the Attorney General’s website and can be viewed or printed from the following link, http://www.ag.idaho.gov/publications/manuals.html. Free copies of the manuals will be available at Monday’s seminar.

It is co-sponsored by the Press and the Spokesman-Review.