‘Sunshine’ takes work

Lawmakers often seek barriers to open government

The legislative assault on transparency in Arkansas government continues. The pace isn’t as awful as in some past years, but efforts to snuff out public access to information nevertheless go on.

Most of this comes by way of proposed changes to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, a state law enacted in 1967 to grant citizens of the state access to most records and meetings of government.

There are exceptions to what the people may access and that list continues to expand all these decades later. As in too many years past, lawmakers this year filed numerous bills to alter the state’s open meetings/open records law.

It is distressing that these changes inevitably are under consideration in Arkansas during Sunshine Week, a time set aside annually to celebrate the public’s right to know, not just in Arkansas but all across America.

Arkansas has long stood tall in comparison to other states because the state’s FOI Act has been exemplary.

Frequent attacks in the state Legislature have made it less so, and Arkansans need to reawaken to the importance of this law.

That’s especially so in these days of diminishing news coverage of governmental bodies. Remember those notices of frequent staff reductions at newspapers and other news outlets that have been so prevalent in recent years? The cuts have happened at news organizations large and small. The result is that there are fewer news gatherers out there, roaming city halls and courthouses and other bastions of government.

Reporters are attending fewer meetings at which public business is done, reporting less of the day-to-day workings of government.

The smaller the government, the more likely the only outside eyes on it these days are those of concerned citizens.

That’s the beauty of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. It isn’t written to protect access for news gatherers. It provides the same access to any Arkansas citizen to know about the goings-on in government.

That’s why ongoing efforts to amend the law deserve the same attention from everyday citizens as from members of the press.

Here’s just one example from this year’s session. A proposed change is intended to protect the identity of big lottery winners. Initially, the proposal would have protected all lottery winners but was changed to apply only to those who win $500,000 or more.

The first impulse may be to identify with the lottery winner who has won a lot of money and doesn’t want to be besieged by people trying to share in their instant wealth.

But think a little deeper about the potential for someone to abuse the system — and never be caught.

Insider schemes have happened elsewhere, successfully pillaging millions from public lotteries. Hiding winners’ identities seems to unnecessarily invite such abuse.

Besides, winners don’t have to claim their payouts immediately. If they want a zone of anonymity, they can wait to cash in while they get their affairs in order. As is often the case, this is just another needless attempt to restrict access to information.

Much more mundane applications of the FOI Act by citizens may prove even more important in the current news-reporting environment.

Maybe you want to compete for public business. You see bids awarded for goods or services that you might be able to supply for less. Knowing the other bidders and what bids typically get awarded enables more competition.

If such decisions were made in secret, who would know when favoritism kicks in?

The public is served in so many ways by transparency, whether at the local level or any other realm of government.

It happens every day.

Here’s hoping Arkansas’ FOI Act survives intact to serve more generations.

Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. She is a founding member of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Coalition and a former state coordinator for Sunshine Week. Email her at brendajblagg@gmail.com.