I'm sure over time more laws will be created to force the government to give that information in a more timely manner but for now they often obstruct the public by withholding it for a time.

You can often look online for the county/city zoning map, parcel info, and zoning laws.  

This one came from Massachusetts, a state where the eviction laws are not in the landlord's favor.

Short answer: not legally, but they can get away with it.Long answer starts with a fundamental concept of our tax laws.

I am guessing stricter privacy laws can make this difficult.

City's with radical liberals in power like to throw unenforceable laws on the books.

It is just like law firms from NYC have a full team vs local independent lawyers have a one-man army or a very small team.

The NAR settlement was ridiculous and has only forced agents to do more paperwork and disclosures, but the vast majority of us are still working the same way.The law requires the agent to sign an agreement with you.

Luckily for me the state of Florida has state level protection which bars municipalities from passing new or amending their existing laws.That said, I am seeing cities like City of Saint Pete crack down and are enforcing their laws for the first time in years.  

We have education in real estate principles, real estate law and real estate finance.