This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In an affront to the principle of open government, the Legislature has voted to radically change the Government Records Access and Management Act to ensure your privacy and, more importantly, that of any legislator who doesn't want some nosy constituent to know what she's texting about.
It's all in Republican Rep. John Dougall's HB477, which makes huge changes in the way the public and news media get information on how the Legislature runs the public's business.
In fact, it was the news media that seemed to give those backing the bill the hives.
Dougall said he worries about screaming headlines disclosing that a constituent's child is gravely ill. He apparently doesn't understand that reputable news outlets would never do that without the consent of the child's parents and only if it were newsworthy.
What also scares Dougall is modern communications. In his rewrite of GRAMA, he specifies voice, instant and text messages and video chats as being off the table in terms of public records. Have you ever seen legislators in committee, on the floor or out in the hallways, their cell phones glued to their ears if they're not tapping away on their little keyboards?
Even if they're doing the people's business, that's not for us to know, Dougall's bill proposes.
Jeff Hunt, an attorney who's made a career of understanding and interpreting GRAMA, makes an excellent point: The physical form of the record doesn't determine whether we should have access to it. It's the content: If it involves the public's right to know, it should be as available as any other form of record-keeping.
And if a constituent mentions that her child is ill, the existing GRAMA already deemed it private information.
Dougall also doesn't want to burden taxpayers with the cost of producing public records.
The biggest problem with the bill, however, was that it was available for public debate only last Wednesday. Many lawmakers, media representatives and members of the public were shocked not only by that, but by the sheer scale of the overhaul.
And all while the Legislature is pushing through its final days, as it always does, to get its business done by midnight Thursday.
To their credit, some lawmakers refused to vote for it. One was GOP Sen. Chris Buttars, who said Friday on the Senate floor, "I don't like this type of thing at the end of the session. I hate it. Getting it aired shouldn't be a problem; it's the way it's being processed that creates doubt. I'm going to vote no."
The good news is that all agreed to study it in more depth and with better public and media participation through this year, and quite likely bring it back during the 2012 Legislature.
If there is to be a better outcome for the people's right to know, that's the right way to achieve it.
Peg McEntee is a news columnist. Reach her at pegmcentee@sltrib.com.