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Two bills that would require lawmakers to open political party caucuses to the public received "bright light" ratings from the Utah Media Coalition, which issued its first GRAMA WATCH report Saturday.
Both SB45 and HB89 are aimed at giving the public more access to meetings where lawmakers discuss legislation. While the Senate bill applies only to caucus gatherings, the House bill would apply to any meeting with a quorum of legislators. House Minority Leader Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, is sponsoring SB45. Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, is sponsoring HB89.
But the coalition signaled concern about HB304, which it gave a "lights out" ranking. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, would limit a voter's birth-date information so that only the year is publicly available. Currently, a registered voter's month, date and year of birth are considered public records, information used to verify election results.
"That verification process is weakened if only one of those three birth fields is public," the coalition said in a press release. "With common names, birth year alone is not enough to verify that specific individuals appear only once in a list of voters."
While identity theft is cited as a reason for shielding birth-date information, there are no examples of such thefts occurring using only names and birth dates alone, the coalition said.
Edwards did not return a call Saturday seeking comment about the rating on her bill.
The group gave a neutral "pale light" rating to a fourth bill, SB18, which would make voter email addresses private. Doing so would reduce chances of unwanted messages being sent to voters. The coalition said removing email addresses from public records would not negatively affect the ability to carry out election checks. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem.
The Utah Media Coalition, which includes The Salt Lake Tribune, formed GRAMA WATCH to rate legislation's effect on open-government principles, a move that follows lawmakers' attempt last year to remake the state's Government Records Access and Management Act with little public input. It plans to provide weekly watch reports throughout the 2012 legislative session and issue a final report about overall changes in government access and transparency.
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A View from Here
Nancy Conway, editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, argues that GRAMA WATCH will help the public better weigh legislative proposals that could affect their access to government records. Read her column. > B6