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SALT LAKE CITY -- After calling for a special legislative session to repeal HB 477, Gov. Gary Herbert officially signed the repeal Wednesday morning. Also, the group tasked with coming up with changes to the law met at the Capitol for the second time.
During the first working group, lawmakers sketched out an agenda of how they wanted these working meetings to go. Wednesday, they got down to business and started voicing concerns about what is public and what is private.
Sponsors:
- Bill Sponsor: John Dougall
- Senate Floor Sponsor: Lyle Hillyard
- Cosponsors
- House Votes:
- Senate Votes:
Gov. Herbert has asked that the deliberations in these working meeting be open and transparent, and so far that has been the case.
Understanding and executing the GRAMA law
Those participating in the meeting are lawmakers, media representatives and other members of the public. Wednesday some group members said they would like a law that would reduce the number of attorneys working on the requests. David Church, general counsel for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, requested that the bill be more readable and provide more specific public protection.
"Those of you who have now read the government access law, it is almost unreadable," he said. "It is complicated. It requires calling (attorney) Jeff Hunt, or I take two or three calls a week from cities or towns where I answer GRAMA questions or act as a resource."
Another member of the working group said he would like to see public-versus-private clarification on devices like cell phones and email accounts. The discussion also focused for a time on changing technology, such as social media like Twitter and Facebook, and how it would be classified.
Some group members who are well-versed in technology and social media, including prominent blogger Jesse Stay and Phil Windley, the state's former chief information officer, suggested that more public documents be automatically available online.
But Mark Johnson, Ogden's management services director, pointed to the cost in his city, which is already digitizing 20,000 documents a month.
"I think it's a bigger job than you think," he said.
Panel considers creation of state records ombudsman
The group reacted warmly to a suggestion to create a state ombudsman for public records.
The position, in the office of either the attorney general or the state archivist, would serve as a sounding board for questions from both citizens and government officials on how to resolve thorny records requests. Craig Call, a former legislator who served in a similar position dealing with property-rights issues, presented the idea.
Call said he was successful as Utah's property-rights ombudsman in answering questions from private citizens and business owners, especially over state efforts to acquire property. He said his office cut the number of such cases that ended up as eminent-domain lawsuits from25 percent to just 6 percent.
"It added new ways to provide information and resolve issues," Call said, arguing that access can head off costly litigation. "Informed people make wise decisions."
Media attorney Jeff Hunt said he already has a GRAMA hotline that fields about five calls a week from citizens seeking advice on how to make a request, as well as city attorneys who want to make sure they are disclosing records properly. He said a records ombudsman could "create a more visible point for those questions."
The group will next meet April 14. It hopes to make recommendations to legislative interim committees to draft a new records bill for a special session this summer.
To keep updated on the group, visit its website, www.gramarevisited.com.
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Story written with contributions from Shara Park and Paul Koepp.
