This is an open letter to New Jersey’s state senators: With the passage of time and well-documented advances in technology, New Jersey’s “open government” legislation requires an upgrade. Doing so is essential to ensure our citizens have ready access to their government records and meetings, thereby affirming New Jersey’s policy of transparency in government.
To this end, the undersigned strongly support passage of two bills sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Sen. Joseph Pennacchio. These bills properly accomplish what’s good for our state’s citizens and strongly request all senators to cast votes in favor of both S2512 and S2511.
Bill S2512 amends various provisions of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), and advances its express purpose of ready access to government records. For example:
Custodians will be required to provide requesters with the redacted version of the document and an affidavit stating the record’s date, author/ originator, subject matter or title, number of pages with redactions, and the specific statutory provision or other lawful basis for each redaction.
Public agencies will be required to inform requesters when records may be electronically mailed, without charge to the requester.
Custodians will be required to post on their sites the name, mailing address, electronic mailing address, phone number and facsimile number for the custodian of records, thus making it easier for requesters to communicate with such agencies and obtain government records.
The bill responds to concerns expressed by the New Jersey League of Municipalities and Conference of Mayors. For example, custodians may now assess a special surcharge to recoup costs for voluminous requests. This surcharge addresses the “commercial data-mining” concern expressed by the League of Municipalities and Conference of Mayors.
Bill S2511 serves to properly advance the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and its express recognition and furtherance of the public’s right to be present at all meetings of public bodies, and to fully witness all phases of deliberation, policy formation and decisionmaking. For example:
The bill provides that a public body’s subcommittees may be subject to certain OPMA provisions.
Public bodies will be required to post notice of public meetings on their Internet site.
Except for communications that are purely administrative or procedural, no member of a public body, other than the Legislature, during any meeting of that public body to which the public is admitted, shall communicate privately by means of communication equipment. Recognizing the growing pervasiveness of electronic communications, this will properly foster transparency and the expressly stated “right of the public to be present at all meetings of public bodies and to witness in full detail all phases of the deliberation, policy formation and decision-making of those bodies.”
We fully support these bills. The rights they ensure belong to every citizen in New Jersey. These bills are the public’s bills. We join in this letter to encourage all senators to vote “yes.”
New Jersey Press Association
West Trenton