NM legislation working to block the sunshine

It’s ironic that the state Legislature is considering several anti-open government bills during Sunshine Week. That’s the national initiative spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors to educate about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy.

Interestingly, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors launched Sunshine Sunday in 2002 in response to efforts by some Florida legislators to create scores of new exemptions to that state’s public records law.

The following year, the idea of a national Sunshine Sunday was raised at an American Society of News Editors Freedom of Information summit. But it was decided the initiative needed to be more than a single day, and Sunshine Week was born.

During Sunshine Week 2017 hundreds of media organizations, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and other participants engage in public discussions on the importance of open government as a bedrock of democracy. What better place to start than with our own Legislature?

The state Inspection of Public Records Act emphasizes “that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public officers and employees.”

Yet several bills seeking to limit your right to “the greatest possible information” about your government are under legislative consideration and deserve your attention.

Senate Bill 149: Although its stated purpose is to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses of six highly personal crimes, this bill is so broadly written it would render public versions of certain police reports “virtually void of meaningful information,” according to Greg Williams, president of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

It would allow law enforcement to keep secret anything in police reports that could reveal the identity of victims or non-law enforcement witnesses to multiple crimes until charges are filed.

Sponsors say the intent is to protect victims, but who knows how broadly agencies will interpret it, possibly taking out all locations, descriptions, etc.

This well-intentioned but poorly executed bill is sponsored by Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, and supported by the University of New Mexico, which is under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice because of its handling of sex-assault reports.

As Williams points out, it “would significantly harm the ability … to report on violent crime in New Mexico, which in turn keeps the public less informed on issues of law enforcement and crime in our communities.”

House Bill 505: This bill, sponsored by Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, would allow some convicted criminals to have their criminal records erased.

Supporters say a criminal record can keep someone from getting a job and that it isn’t fair for one mistake to follow a person for the rest of their life. Opponents correctly point out it’s bad policy to expunge public records, especially when it comes to the work of law enforcement.

There are numerous reasons people should have access to criminal records, ranging from hiring decisions to deciding who you want teaching or driving your children. The threat of a lifelong criminal record is also a deterrent to crime.

Other bills that could make government less transparent include:

• Senate Bill 93, which would keep names of applicants for public jobs a secret.

• Senate Bill 429, which would make a wide range of Spaceport America records secret;

• House Bill 267, which would exempt from public disclosure “data, records or information of a proprietary nature” generated by university research before the information is published or patented.

“This is, unfortunately, normal,” NMFOG’s Williams said recently. “Basically, every session we deal with several attempts to roll back public access to public records.”

— Albuquerque Journal