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Utah Foundation for Open Government announces formation of the Utah Citizens FOI (Freedom of Information) Network. March 8, 2011 In response to the Utah legislature’s passage of HB477, a bill that dramatically restricts the public’s right to access its own information, UFOG is today taking the lead in forming the Utah Citizens FOI Network. Initially, the network will put together an email group of all interested parties (citizens, citizen advocates, political activists, elected officials) who seek to have Gov. Gary Herbert veto HB477 immediately. The network will notify participants of all events, developments and initiatives concerning HB477. Members may email the list of all developments re: HB477. The only agenda of UCFN is the furtherance of open government in Utah. The network does not and will not espouse the causes of any individuals or groups on the network. In the days ahead, the network will post news of any infringement to open government at any government level, state or local. Members may then freely pass that information along to their associates. To join UCFN, email us at utahfoundationforopengov@gmail.com. Visit the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_150402395019427&ap=1
Update: March 9, 2011 Last night Gov. Herbert signed HB477 into law with an effective date of July 1. This network will continue to move forward to get HB477 repealed. At this time there is movement for a citizen referendum. When the details are available, we will send out to the network and post them on this site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ UFOG letter to Gov. Herbert on HB477
Dear Gov. Herbert, We, the people, who advocate for open government in Utah and the nation, urge you to veto HB477. We thank you for not bowing to legislative pressure to sign HB477 into law and condemn the legislature’s pushing through of it without due process. We also thank you for what we believe was a strong directive to the legislature that they needed to have a much more public process to pass any such law, an act we believe led to the legislature recalling the bill. That’s a start but we cannot, and will not be satisfied with that. GRAMA is too important. At the least, we respectfully ask that you advocate for a very real dialogue between legislators, citizens and the media in a roundtable situation where each party is equal and for a very real period of time, beginning with a four-hour block. If any changes need to be made to GRAMA, they need to be made with the consent of the people. No version of HB477 is acceptable. HB477 completely guts GRAMA, a law that has been on the books for 20 years. Proponents claim that these sweeping changes are needed to address problems that are bogging down the legislature and the legislative process in Utah. This is simply not true. Proponents claim these changes are needed to protect the privacy of their constituents who communicate to them by email, text message and other electronic forms. The privacy of constituents and elected officials is already protected in GRAMA. Proponents claim that there is broad abuse of GRAMA by the media and special interest groups. This is blatantly untrue. Before last Friday, just eight GRAMA requests had been filed with the Utah legislature. That’s eight records requests on hundreds of bills affecting the 2.7 million citizens of Utah. Legislative Counsel says that records requests are overwhelming staff, requiring 400 hours of time to fill. Over a year’s time, that’s just over 1.5 hours of ONE staffer’s time each day. Is the right of the people of Utah to know how they are governed not worth at least one and a half hours a day out of the schedule of one of hundreds of the legislature’s staff? Proponents claim that GRAMA’s stance that has served this state well for 20 years that gives equal weight to the public’s right to know balanced with the privacy right of citizens and elected officials, needs to be thrown out. Now anyone requesting records must prove by a preponderance of evidence that their right to know is justified. What will that do to the ordinary citizen of Utah seeking to know how he/she is being governed? Coming from every walk of life, ordinary citizens cannot usually show that “preponderance” without legal aid, something out of their reach financially. But that’s the point, isn’t it? To price openness out of the reach of the citizens of Utah who will not be able to adequately defend their requests against the skills of government-paid attorneys at every level of government to block their attempts to know the truth. Their own taxes will be used to keep them in the dark. HB477 also prices anything but access to the most simple of records out of the realm of many citizens. It allows government at all levels to charge higher fees to see or copy records, to charge for “overhead and administration.” It also changes the language encouraging government to grant fee waivers when a request can be seen to be in the public interest to allowing government to do so if it “chooses.” Proponents say that legislative intent language needs to be stricken from GRAMA, that it has no bearing on the “simple language” of the law. That’s akin to saying that the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution should be stricken because it has no bearing on the contents of that great document. The legislative intent of GRAMA is very telling, coming as it does from a group of people from all walks of life: legislators, the Attorney General, media, citizen groups and attorneys who gave two years of their lives to produce what has been hailed as one of the best pieces of Freedom of Information legislation in the nation. HB477 also exempts the legislature and most of the records generated in the course of its official business and representatives’ official business. By passing HB477, legislators have said loud and clear that they do not want the public, or its servant, the media, messing in THEIR business, that the public needs to go on with its business and leave governance to the people that know what they’re doing – them. Proponents claim that HB477 had to be pushed through in 48 hours from start to finish so that things would not “fester.” This law will be a festering wound on the face of Utah government’s claim to transparency for generations to come no matter when it is enacted. So veto it now. Already, across the nation, the outcry against what the Utah legislature has done here is mounting. National FOI expert David Cuillier of the University of Arizona calls HB477 “This legislation is the most horrific anti-FOI legislation I have ever seen. I think, in all seriousness, that Mexico FOI law is probably better. Maybe even China's FOIA law." Recall of HB477 is an obvious ploy to get the public spotlight off this issue and to get you out of the corner you have been backed into. We’re not falling for it. Once the media moves on, as it must, then we believe leadership will quietly try to bring this bill back out effectively unchanged and implemented with that effective date. This legislation is fundamentally flawed, Governor. It cannot be fixed by waiting a few months to implement. The only thing that will satisfy the people of this state is that it die a quick death. If there are concerns about GRAMA, let them be addressed in a process that effectively involves the public and the media and that goes far beyond the normal format of an interim study session. Please demand meaningful dialogue on GRAMA. And not just with the media. We won’t settle for anything less. We’re not going away and we refuse to be silent. The past 72 hours have, if nothing else, shown the power of social media to get a message to the people. We will be heralding this message without cease to the people of Utah until the right thing is done and the people of Utah, along with the media are an integral part of any changing of GRAMA – a law of the people written by the people for the people. Governor Herbert, give us back our open government – a temporary recall is not enough. Veto HB477.
Linda Petersen President Utah Foundation for Open Government utahfoundationforopengov@gmail.com 801-554-7513
Utah Foundation for Open Government
The Utah Foundation for Open Government, a citizen coalition, was founded in 1996. Its purpose is to encourage, sponsor and facilitate the public’s right to know about the workings of government at all levels and to foster open government. Originally organized under the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, in recent years UFOG has opened its board to citizen groups and now includes representatives from the Utah League of Women Voters, the Attorney General’s office, Davis County Concerned Writers (Davis Democratic Party), Utah Republican Party, the Utah Press Association and Utah Headliners. Currently other groups are being invited to participate. UFOG’s accomplishments include:
For more information on UFOG, please contact Linda Petersen, president, at 801-554-7513, or at utahfoundation@gmail.com. |