Jul 08 2008
Senate Judiciary Committee Clears Public Records Law Changes
Legislation that would require state and local governments to pay reasonable legal fees when they lose a public records lawsuit cleared a Senate judiciary committee today after an attempt to gut the bill.
State law currently gives the courts limited discretion to not award legal fees to people and businesses who win public records lawsuits if the governmental agency showed substantial justification to deny records. Open government advocates say judges have largely used that discretion to prevent or limit the awarding of legal fees, reports Dan Kane.
I think this is a fair bill. If a government agency is in violation of its own laws, public advocates like the media should not be burdened with paying out of their pocket to expose these violations. True, if the government has to pay the fines then the taxpayers are footing the bill, but it is up to the taxpayers to elect people who will abide by the laws they have been sworn to uphold.
