A bill advancing through the House would erode access citizens have to government records that could most impact their lives, an attorney who represents media outlets claims.
Representatives will likely debate the legislation on the House floor after a committee approved the bill Monday on a party-line vote of 7-3.
Attorney Jeff Hunt, a Utah Government Records Access and Management Act expert, asked lawmakers not to deny the public access to documents related to law enforcement, audit reports, professional licensing and personnel matters.
“That’s where government power is exercised in a very significant manner, trying to take away somebody’s job or their license,” Hunt said.
But House Bill 122, sponsored by Rep. Douglas Aagard, R-Kaysville, would strip journalists of avenues they have to appeal decisions that deny them access to government records.
When Utah Supreme Court justices sided with the Deseret News last year in a records dispute the newspaper had with Salt Lake County, “they really loosened the clear meaning of [GRAMA,]” Aagard said.
Since that decision reporters have flooded law-enforcement agencies with requests for reports in ongoing investigations, Aagard said.
“If such information must be disclosed under GRAMA before the investigation is concluded, law enforcement will be severely handicapped in its ability to perform its functions,” Aagard said.
The public has accessed most government records since state lawmakers enacted GRAMA in 1992.
“GRAMA is something that is very dear to the news media because it relies on GRAMA to get information and report that information to the public,” Hunt said. “It is the window through which the public can see the workings of government.”
But the right to know should not supersede the integrity of ongoing criminal investigations, said Patrick Nolan, a prosecutor at the Office of the Utah Attorney General.
“The floodgates have opened under GRAMA on law enforcement, and that is the main reason why this bill is before the Legislature today,” Nolan told state lawmakers Monday. “The difficulty with GRAMA as it presently stands is that whoever is requesting access to such information has three bites of the apple to try to get that information from a law-enforcement agency on appeal.”
Petitioners can appeal record denials to the agency in question, state records officials and the courts system, Nolan explained.
“Since the Supreme Court decision came out we are getting absolutely inundated with requests, not only by the media, but from attorneys themselves seeking to get at [information] that would ordinarily be protected,” Nolan said.
Shielding reports from the eyes of journalists as investigations are underway helps protect the identities of crime victims, Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said.
“We’re trying to protect the rights of the victims and it allows us the ability to actually complete our investigation before having that information leaked,” Carpenter said Tuesday. “Cases have potential to be tried in the press because we are unable to close the case out before the information is released.”
Meanwhile, HB 122 would classify government records related to “anticipated” litigation as protected by GRAMA without citizens having a way to appeal the decisions, Hunt said.
“The public ought to have the ability to go to the court, or state records committee and make its best case,” Hunt said. “[Lawmakers] want to really gut the ability of the public to make an argument that this classification makes no sense.”
Rep. Christine Johnson, a Democrat who represents the Snyderville Basin, said she had not decided how to vote on HB 122 when reached Tuesday. Rep. Mel Brown, a Coalville Republican who represents Park City, was not immediately available to comment.