Senate Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs
and Government Operations

Testimony in Opposition to
HB 2361 HD1, "Relating to Public Agency Meetings"
Submitted by Ian Lind
(40 copies)

Friday, March 19, 2004.
2:45 PM, Senate Conference Room 229


Thank you for this opportunity to present testimony in opposition to HB 2361 HD1.

Let me put it bluntly: Is it your intent to erase the public's right to know?

Because that, in essence, is what this bill in its current form would do by applying the provisions of the sunshine law only to those few governmental bodies explicitly named as a matter of law.

It essentially invites agencies to delegate sensitive issues or discussions to ad hoc, informal, advisory groups that would be clearly exempted from open meeting requirements under this bill.

It is not enough to simply clarify the status of subdivisions of government bodies, as the prior amendment to this bill suggests.

In an earlier era when government was much simpler, the public's business was done by official bodies. Today, however, all levels of government have come to rely on a multiplicity of informal advisory groups to sort out issues of importance to the public. This is often because technical expertise is needed to address modern problems. But these discussions, often hidden from public view, tend to replace the discussions and debates that would formerly have taken place in more formal settings that are subject to the sunshine law's requirements.

HB 2361 HD1 would encourage more discussions to take place without the public having access and without public accountability. And those discussions are important--they provide the public with information about the rationale for proposed policies, and the interests that lie behind them. This is not insignificant information, and the public should not be closed out.

I would urge you not to provide such a sweeping exemption for such groups, but perhaps to lessen the burden that these ad hoc groups face in complying with sunshine law requirements. For example, such groups could be allowed a shorter period of advance notice of meetings (perhaps 72 hours) as well as streamlined requirements for minutes. Meeting notices could perhaps be centralized, or allowed to be made via the Internet rather than by mail. Such an approach of making limited accommodations for informal groups would be workable while protecting the public interest and the essence of the sunshine law.

Please let me remind you that the core of our open government laws is the principle that all parts of the government's decision making process should be as open as possible. Democrats and Republicans have long declared support for this concept as a pillar of a participatory society.

The Legislature has previously declared, as embodied in Chapter 92-1:
...it is the policy of this State that the formation and conduct of public policy - the discussions, deliberations, decisions, and action of governmental agencies - shall be conducted as openly as possible. To implement this policy the legislature declares that:

(1) It is the intent of this part to protect the people's right to know;

(2) The provisions requiring open meetings shall be liberally construed; and

(3) The provisions providing for exceptions to the open meeting requirements shall be strictly construed against closed meetings.

Don't turn your backs on this. Please do not pass HB2361 HD1 in its current overly broad form.

Thank you.

Ian Lind
email: ian@ilind.net
phone: (808) 955-1819