Utah Governor Gary Herbert Match 8 signed controversial legislation that critics say will restrict access to government records.
Instead of vetoing the bill, as opponents urged, Herbert signed a version of the bill that was altered slightly, to delay its effective date until July 1. This gap is intended to allow time for the potential reconsideration of the measure, he said, but that prospect is considered slight. See reports in The Salt Lake Tribune and The Vernal Express.
About 200 people rallied at the state Capitol midday to demand the governor veto HB 477, which drew opposition from many good-government and press groups locally and nationally. The protestors chanted, “Veto! Veto!” Signs said: “Only a cockroach is afraid of light,” “Sunshine, not secrecy” and “Hiding something?”
HB 477 requires requesters appealing denials to show — with a preponderance of evidence — that the information should be released because “ the public interest favoring access outweighs the interest favoring restriction of access.
It prohibits the disclosure of text messages, voice mails, instant messages and video chats. It also allows government agencies to charge fees for disclosure that can include administrative and overhead costs.
The law exempts state lawmakers from having to disclose their correspondence with each other or their staffs.
“It’s not the least bit hyperbolic to say that (HB 477) puts Utah in a class of one, alone in an anti-democratic zone in which the governors enjoy almost carte blanche over what information they deign to share with the rabble,” wrote Charles N. Davis, an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and a former national Freedom of Information Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists, in The Standard-Examiner.
He said in part:
In an era in which more and more governmental business will be conducted through electronic means, this is a stunning reversal. It removes any semblance of public and press scrutiny from a whole range of government communications, forever, in a single section.
The bill was rushed through the state legislature. It passed by the House less than a day after committee approval and by the Senate a day later.
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