On the Hill: Open records management and access in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The idea behind SB277 Government Records Management Amendments is simple according to the bill sponsor Sen. Mike McKell, R-Salem.  It replaces the current seven-member volunteer state records committee with one person appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Utah Senate, McKell said.

But the uproar the bill has created may indicate it’s not so simple. Opponents say the new position would equate to a loss of public access to open public records, with questionable efficiency. Opponents ask how can a single attorney do the job of a current seven-member committee? 

Records committee seems overwhelmed

That seven-member committee’s current record isn’t outstanding. They have 73 days to hear a public records access case, but only 10% of cases have been heard within that time. Anyone appealing the case faces an average wait of 156 days before they hear an answer.

SB277 passed out of committee on Tuesday and will be heard by the full Senate.

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, Inside Sources hosts Taylor Morgan and Erin Rider spoke with some of the key figures in this discussion. A transcript edited for brevity and the full podcast are below.

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HOST: TAYLOR MORGAN:  Tell us about SB277. Give our listeners, if you can, just a brief overview of the bill and what you’re trying to accomplish with it.

GUEST: SEN. MIKE MCKELL:  First and foremost, we’re not trying to restrict the public’s access to records. That’s the last thing we want to do in the legislature. We’ve had several audits done over the last few years, and what we’ve learned is our process for public records is broken.

MCKELL, continued:  So we had a hearing. What I do in in the bill, it’s very simple. We we use a director, which would be an attorney. I liken it to an administrative law judge to take these requests. Currently, we have a seven member committee. They’re volunteers, but we ask them to do very legal things. And I think that’s a big part of why there’s been backlog. That’s a very difficult task. …

MORGAN:  Getting to the next step. What do you think are the main points of misunderstanding around this bill and why perhaps some in the press and the public would still be opposed to it?

Fundamental misunderstanding

MCKELL:  I think there’s just a fundamental misunderstanding. … The misunderstanding is what this language does in states that use a records director. Those states process records in most states in two to three weeks. We have a huge, huge backlog. And there’s this misunderstanding that we’re trying to hide records. We’re not.

HOST: ERIN RIDER:  (Now) we’ve got the perspective of someone who works with public records on practically a daily basis. KSL investigator Daniela Rivera joins us in the studio. What are some of the challenges that the Media Coalition still sees in this in this substituted bill?

GUEST: DANIELA RIVERA, KSL INVESTIGATORS: I think it’s very similar to … the concerns we heard loud and clear from citizens last night who don’t trust the consolidation of power into one person who is completely beholden to the governor and legislature for their livelihood.

We heard from citizens that they trust the state records committee. They feel like it’s fair and it’s kind of like the great equalizer. Any citizen can go and be heard, and there’s citizen input. And I think there’s great concern among Utah citizens that, you know, this bill shifts power away from them toward the government.

RIDER:  We talked about the backlog. We’re having a longer and longer process before we can even get decisions. If the solution isn’t putting it into a full time attorney with a staff that can review these what is the solution for dealing with that backlog?

RIVERA: … Starting from the beginning, where are these appeals coming from? Do we have records officers and do we have government agencies across the state trained on the law and not denying access to records for frivolous reasons? Or for wrong reasons that then bring all these appeals in?

… And timely appointments. It’s not fair to say that the legislature drug its feet on these appointments, and that’s why we have a backlog. We had a backlog before that, but untimely appointments don’t help with that, right? We had four months where it just got worse. So I think there’s, there’s a multi layered approach to fixing the issue, but I don’t think we can ignore the fact that we are seeing a huge increase in appeals.

Hear the entire interview in the podcast below.

 

 

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