12/21/2010: Oregon has good public records and meetings laws. But the State’s Attorneys General who enforce these laws also provide legal representation to state agencies – agencies who often would much prefer to keep the records hidden. Dave Frohnmayer, ironically, was the best of the recent AGs at supporting the public’s right over the agencies’s interests. Of course his attitude changed when he became president of UO, and had things to hide!
Attorney General John Kroger, elected in 2008, has not been much better than the rest of the pack at sticking up for the public. He has let his Deputy AG Mary Williams write a series of public records opinions that have made it difficult, expensive, and time consuming to get records from state agencies (like UO and OUS) that have a lot to hide and that are willing to exploit loopholes in the law to do so.
But Kroger campaigned on a pro-transparency platform. He and his public records counsel Michael Kron have repeatedly said they are going to fix these problems legislatively, and now it looks like Kroger is going to keep that promise. Here are drafts of legislation he will introduce in the new session:
LC 865 is here. From the summary:
Establishes deadlines by which public bodies must respond to public records requests. Provides exceptions. Delays application of deadlines to local governments until July 1, 2013. Provides exceptions. Limits amount of fees public bodies may charge for responding to public records requests. Provides exceptions. Establishes jurisdiction of Attorney General to hear petitions for review of public records in custody of elected officials by persons denied right to inspect records. Requires Attorney General to develop training materials on public records. Declares emergency, effective on passage.
LC 876 is here:
Requires certain governing bodies of public bodies to make audio, audio-video or digital recording of public meetings. Requires written record of meetings and specifies content of written record. Requires recordings and related written records to be available within seven working days of meeting or within one working day of request to review or inspect, whichever is later. Requires Attorney General to develop training materials to educate public employees on public meetings law requirements. Declares emergency, effective on passage.
Delays and fees are a common strategy of UO Public Records Officer Liz Denecke, as they were for her predecessor Melinda Grier. The OUS board, meantime, has not prepared written minutes of its meetings since Dec, 2006. So I think both these laws will have an immediate and positive effect for transparency at UO.
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