Utah Legislature to Utah Citizens: Butt Out of the Government's "Private" Business

The Utah legislature moves one step further along its inexorable path toward keeping the public's nose out of the government's "private" business

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Utah legislature has moved one step further along its inexorable path toward keeping the public's nose out of the government's "private" business, with the passage in the Senate of Rep. Aagard's HB 122. Key legislative players are reportedly patting themselves on the back for rejecting Governor Huntsman's eleventh hour proposal to the remove the existing "tie-breaking" intent language of Utah Code Section 63G-2-102 (e), which favors public access when countervailing citizen disclosure and government "privacy" interests are of equal weight.

In our view, the last minute floating of this latter issue was probably tactical. By rejecting the Governor's proposal, the proponents of HB 122 will be able to mendaciously argue that the contraction of the public's right to obtain public records is lots better than it might have been.

Rep. Aagard's bill, which was amended in the Senate, is now headed back to the House for the final slam dunk. For the benefit of those readers who may feel inclined to make a last ditch effort to stop the progress of this bill, we once again provide the House of Representatives contact link:

• House contact information

Although we've complained incessantly about the potential perils of expanding government secrecy to documents purportedly prepared "in anticipation of litigation," nobody in the legislature seems to be listening. What the hell. There's no harm in giving it one last last shot, by again contacting your House Representatives to voice your disapproval of this bill, we say.

Incidentally, this morning's SL Trib story also reports on another GRAMA revision bill, (which unfortunately came in under our radar screen,) i.e., Rep. Greg Hughes's HB362, which passed the House on Monday 71-2. "The measure would require that individuals who make more than 12 government records request in a year's time must pay full costs for any additional requests," according to this morning's SL Trib story. Whether this bill would adversely effect the citizen watchdog efforts of local GRAMA experts like Dan S. or Bill C. we don't know. Perhaps the two of them will be able to chime in with their own comments about this.

Reader comments are invited, as always.