MMA re Records Bill

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

SENATE TO VOTE ON PUBLIC RECORDS BILL THIS WEEK

S. 2120 Shortens Timelines, Limits Fees, Invites Lawsuits

Vote Scheduled for Thurs., Feb. 4

On Thursday, February 4, members of the State Senate will vote on its own version of legislation to update the state’s public records laws (S. 2120).

The Senate bill differs in many important respects from H. 3858, the measure passed by the House of Representatives in November. The Senate bill would impose shorter and stricter timelines, would limit or set conditions on the fees that cities and towns can charge, and would create a more litigious process that would require the courts to award attorneys fees to plaintiffs in most circumstances.

The MMA’s analysis concludes that the Senate bill would impose unrealistically short timelines that would be extremely difficult for communities to meet, would limit fees and therefore impose an unfunded mandate on cities and towns, and would expose public entities and taxpayers to threats of expensive litigation.

Local officials and the MMA are not opposed to passage of legislation updating the public records laws. Rather, we have been calling for balanced and realistic changes to prevent the imposition of unfunded mandates on cities and towns, and to ensure that local officials have enough time and flexibility to comply with the act without diverting resources and time from their other important public services and duties on behalf of local residents and taxpayers.

The MMA has written to Senators identifying major concerns with S. 2120, and urging the Senate to redraft the language to: 1) make the timelines reasonable and feasible for cities, towns, school districts and smaller public entities; 2) remove the unfunded mandates in the bill by ensuring that communities can be fully reimbursed for the cost of fulfilling records requests; and 3) restore discretion to judges on the issue of court costs and attorneys’ fees to prevent a rush of costly litigation and lawsuits.

Please review the MMA’s letter to the Senate by clicking HERE.

Please review the full draft of the SW&M Committee’s public records legislation (S. 2120) by clicking HERE.

We have encouraged Senators to call their local officials to ask for your input and comments on whether the bill is feasible or affordable for your community.

If you haven’t heard from your Senators, please call them today to share your thoughts on the bill, and ask them to redraft S. 2120 so that it can be implemented without unfunded mandates and without forcing you to divert resources from other important public responsibilities and services to local taxpayers.