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January 23, 2010

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Another chance to improve state’s public access laws

Civil penalties for stubborn violators good legislation

Anonymous The Tribune Star Sat Jan 23, 2010, 07:18 PM EST

TERRE HAUTE — There are times when good legislating has less to do with creating new laws than with making current laws better.

Indiana laws governing open meetings and public access to government records are considered to be strong. But good laws can always be better, and this session of the General Assembly is getting closer to improving access by giving them the one thing they lack — teeth.

While the state’s access laws are strict and speak clearly to the principles of openness and access, there are no provisions to punish public agencies or employees who flagrantly violate them. That is a serious flaw.

A bill passed by the Indiana House of representatives last week in a 96-0 vote would take a major step toward correcting it by allowing judges to impose a civil penalty of $100 for the first violation of public access laws and up to $500 for additional violations.

The bill now goes to the Indiana Senate for consideration.

People alleging open meeting or public records violations must now seek a nonbinding opinion from the state’s public access counselor first. Regardless of such opinions, they can file lawsuits over their complaints, and judges can order that records be made public or that open meeting violations be stopped.

Judges can order the public official or agency that violated the law to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees, but they can’t impose civil penalties such as the proposed fines.

If state senators concur with their House colleagues — and we certainly encourage them to do so — then judges will be able to handle violations more aggressively.

If adopted, this is the kind of disincentive for willful violators that would swing the balance of power back to citizens.

This proposal is not radical. In fact, 31 states have stronger enforcement remedies than Indiana for open meetings violations, and 38 states have stronger penalties for records access violations.

Associations representing county and city governments oppose the bill. They worry individual employees might be subject to punishment even though they are ordered to withhold records by their bosses.

As we have stated before, that objection rings hollow. Judges will have discretion when it comes to levying fines, so lawmakers should trust them to determine the facts of specific cases and levy penalties appropriately.

That’s what judges do every day.

Keep in mind that by the time an access case gets to a judge, it will already have been researched by the state’s public access counselor, who will have delivered a nonbinding public opinion on the matter. Blatant violations will have been exposed during that process, and agencies and employees will have had an opportunity to fulfill their obligations without having the matter go before a judge.

A 96-0 vote in the House is a clear indication that this is widely accepted improvement to access laws. Let’s hope the Senate sees it the same way.



CONTACT YOUR INDIANA LEGISLATOR



By Phone

Representatives can be reached at 1-800-382-9842.

Senators can be reached at 1-800-382-9467.



By Mail

Mailing address for representatives and senators is 200 W. Washington St. Indianapolis, IN 46204.



Online

You can track legislation progress and otherwise keep close track of bills of interest by logging on to the legislative Web site: www.state.in.us/legislative.

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