Senate Bill 277, Government Records Management Amendments, Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork — For more than three decades the Government Records Access Management Act has governed how Utahns can obtain records related to the conduct of the public’s business, lending to government transparency and accountability. When disputes arise, they are taken to the State Records Committee.
This bill would disband the seven-member committee, replacing it with a single administrative law judge appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. It would also eliminate a provision known as the “balancing test” that allows records that otherwise might not be public to be released if there is an overriding public benefit.
The State Records Committee has largely functioned well, bringing together volunteers from diverse backgrounds to work in the public’s interest. The committee’s decisions have been affirmed by the courts 98% of the time, showing the decisions of the committee in correctly interpreting the law.
Removing the balancing test would mean that, no matter how much the public might benefit from the release of the records, neither the agency, the administrative law judge nor the courts could even consider those benefits when making decisions. This provision has been relied on to uncover alleged government corruption, reveal how millions in tax dollars are being spent on lobbying and shed light on officer-involved shootings, to name a few instances.
Disbanding the records committee is unnecessary. It moves control of public records decisions to the governor and Senate, rather than a public committee. And eliminating the balancing test would increase government secrecy and undermine accountability. Both changes would harm the public and, as such, The Utah Transparency Project strongly opposes SB277.
The bill was introduced on Feb. 13 and will be heard by the Senate Government Operations Committee on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
The Utah Media Coalition, comprised of Utah’s leading news outlets and journalism organizations, offers real-time assessments of legislation that could either increase or decrease public access to government records.
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