The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approves legislation that critics say will gut the state’s public records law at every level. It would prohibit the public from obtaining any government documents involved in decision making. The bill’s author, Turkey Creek Senator Heather Cloud, says they are trying to prevent unfinalized information from becoming public.
“There is an impression by some that they are privy to that information and to put out that information out prematurely would be disingenuous, misleading and potentially catastrophic in some cases,” Cloud said.
Governor Jeff Landry says current public records laws have become weaponized to stifle deliberative speech. Landry says he supports transparency when it comes to fiscal matters, but the current law is stretched and being abused.
Investigative reporter Lee Zurik, with Fox-8 TV in New Orleans spoke in opposition. He says public records requests he obtained helped shine a light on what led to the collapse of the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel in 2019.
“Our story showed the inspectors from the city didn’t show up, they failed to inspect the site,” Zurik said. “Many of the records we received in that series of stories may not be available if you pass this law.”
The bill, which is also touted as legislation to keep the governor and his family safe, passed on a six to two vote. New Orleans Senator Gary Carter voted against it.
“I think we are all sympathetic to make sure the governor is safe but when it comes to the decision making process, how decisions are made by government, we are people of the government so the people need to know that,” Carter said.
Cloud says she’ll work to address some of the concerns of the opponents and will make changes to the bill before the full Senate takes a vote on it.
“We’ll be looking at narrowing it down, so people have access to what they need,” Cloud.
Here is Governor Jeff Landry’s full statement on the bill.
“The public records law is designed to bring transparency to the taxpayer as the government spends their precious tax dollars. Over time these laws have become weaponized to stifle deliberative speech. No journalist allows his or her readers the intimate notes and discussions of the person they interview or their emails back and forth with editors and coworkers. During my time as Attorney General we had to hire 2 lawyers that worked full-time answering sometimes senseless requests from people with no connection to our State. I would keep in mind that as the Attorney General, we were the first agency in Louisiana to go up on la.gov. We have always appreciated transparency when it comes to fiscal matters. This frustration has been communicated to me by all public officials—that the current law is stretched and is being abused and weaponized. SB 482 is a response to the requests by many in public office who, like us, wish to concentrate on solutions to the problems that plague our State. I am 100% committed to the transparency of final decisions and to communicating with our citizens those decisions. The citizens of the state overwhelmingly chose me for this job to reform failures in state government. This is yet another reform.”
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