Constitutional Law

Utah gov. signs bill limiting open-records law

By By The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY ? Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has signed a bill revising the state's open-records law only hours after more than 100 people rallied against the bill in the Capitol rotunda.

House Bill 477 makes the text messages and voice mails of government officials private and restricts access to most communication, including e-mails, between legislators and staff or constituents. Fees for records are to increase when the new law becomes effective July 1.

Herbert says revisions can be made to the law before its effective date.

Before yesterday?s signing, multiple speakers at a rally demanded a veto.

Kim Burningham, a board member with Utahns for Ethical Government, says the measure will dramatically reduce transparency in state government. Just because the effective date was delayed doesn't make the changes less draconian, she said.

Utah news-media outlets also opposed the bill vehemently, running front page editorials last weekend and paying for newspaper advertisements.

The changes to Utah's open-records law will be major, according to opponents. Currently, state law uses the content of a document or communication to determine whether it is public.

Fees would also increase. Along with administrative costs, government agencies could charge the full cost of overhead and staff time on any request.

Legislative leaders and other supporters of House Bill 477 said the current law was written 20 years ago when such informal modes of communication as text messaging and e-mail were not widely used.

Supporters also claimed that complicated requests required excessive time by staff. Some legislators described these requests as "fishing expeditions."

Earlier this week, state Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, said the delay in the measure?s implementation would give all interested parties a chance to improve the bill. If needed, the Legislature could amend the law further during a special session before July 1.

"I'm always OK with talking about it," Dougall said. "This isn't the end. It's only the start of the discussions."

State Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake City, said before the governor signed the measure that the delay wouldn't change his opinion of the bill.

"Bad legislation is still bad legislation, no matter when it goes into effect," McAdams said.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on March 08, 2011 (boomark / email).