House Bill 394, Statutory Intent Amendments, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan — Generally speaking, this is a cleanup bill, removing statements of “legislative intent” from state code. These statements are sometimes included to help the courts understand what lawmakers meant to accomplish by passing a law.

One of the sections that would be wiped out is the intent language accompanying Utah’s open records law. Since 1991 Utah Code has included intent language stating the Government Records Access and Management Act was intended to “promote the public’s right of easy and reasonable access to unrestricted public records,” prevent government entities from hiding information and to “favor public access” when the public’s interest in transparency is equally balanced with the government’s interest in protecting information — kind of a tie-goes-to-the-runner clause.

That intent language provides direction for the State Records Committee and the courts when the public and press are arguing for the release of records. Removing the intent language without including the Legislature’s instructions elsewhere in law poses a risk of tipping the scales that now “favor public access” against transparency. Therefore, the Utah Media Coalition opposes HB394.

The bill was approved by the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 12, and moves to consideration by the full House.

The Utah Media Coalition offers real-time assessments of legislation that could either increase or decrease public access to government records.