Don't restrict access to government records

By Marty Stephens
Published: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 5:51 p.m. MST
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Back in 1989, as a freshman legislator, I was asked by then-Speaker of the House Nolan Karras to sit on a new task force called the Information Practices Task Force, which was funded by the Legislature under the sponsorship of then-Rep. Byron Harward.

Thus for me began the most mind-numbing, methodical look at every possible record that governments at all levels could have in their possession and how citizens could best have ready access to any records that would not violate basic privacy rights.

After two years of almost weekly meetings, this task force, composed of legislators, leaders of government agencies, representatives of the news media and interested private citizens, surprisingly came to a consensus position and forwarded a piece of legislation to the 1991 state Legislature for consideration. The bill was titled the Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA.)

This was landmark legislation that applied to records at all levels of government. Now citizens could go to any state or local government agency and know what the rules would be for accessing its records. It became model legislation throughout the nation and was adopted in substantial form by many other states.

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After 15 years, GRAMA is alive and well. The basic premise of the legislation is that there should be a presumption of openness in the records held by government. There have been several attempts since 1991 to further restrict access to records, mostly by governmental agencies, but these have been routinely rejected by the Legislature as being contrary to the spirit of openness envisioned by GRAMA.

This year, there are several pieces of legislation that seek to severely restrict the public's access to records and to dilute the original intent of the law. These various pieces of legislation seek to lengthen the time to hear an appeal of a decision, restrict the avenues for appeal, restrict access to previously accessible records, add significant roadblocks to accessing government records and allow governments to require an explanation of the purpose for wanting public records and then charging higher fees based on that purpose.

In this electronic age, I believe most of these bills are headed in exactly the wrong direction. We should be able to provide records electronically to our citizens at lower prices, not higher. Government should not be looking at ways to increase the cost to citizens in accessing public records simply to increase the revenues of government. We should be finding ways to make access to records easier, not enacting further hurdles for those wanting to know what our government is doing and why.

Having served at the Capitol for many years, I have nothing but the greatest respect for the men and women who serve there. I know all of the sponsors of these bills personally and know them to have the best interests of the people of this state as their guide. However, sometimes at the Capitol the only voices legislators hear are the voices of those who work in government and who sometimes seem to lose touch with the importance of access to the workings of government for its citizens.

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Marty Stephens
Marty Stephens