Salt Lake Tribune Editor's Column: GRAMA Watch Will Keep an Eye on Government’s Openness

Hoping that so long as we're able to keep a good close watch on our Utah legislature, we won't have another suffer another Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) "battle royal" again this year

As a followup to the Salt Lake Tribune's 1/21/12 story, wherein Trib reporter Heather May reported that a print media legislative watchdog group known as the Utah Media Coalition will launch a new public information project called "GRAMA Watch," which "will rank relevant action that encourages or protects Utah’s open government" with a color-coded rating system, the Trib carries a new editorial piece this morning which fattens out the details of this encouraging project:

• Editor’s column: GRAMA WATCH will keep an eye on government’s openness

Among other things, this morning's Nancy Conway "editor's column" provides a link to the Salt Lake Tribune’s public data website, www.utahsright.com/grama, which is already shaping up to become a highly robust information source to "inform legislators and the public at the front end of the process of creating legislation — how a proposed bill will affect the people’s right to access government information."

We'll add that we're delighted to see the Utah Media Coalition vigorously following up on this great idea.

And for the convenience of the political wonks of Weber County Forum, please take note that we've also added a link to the above website in our right sidebar, under the module title, "2012 Utah GRAMA Watch," for our readers' quick reference, as we dive into the 2012 Utah Legislative Session, in the hope that so long as we're able to keep a good close watch on our Utah legislature, we won't have another suffer another GRAMA "battle royal" again this year.