Frightening legislation

Dear editor:

As usual, our state legislators have provided us with the normal staple of new laws that range from unnecessary to just plain ridiculous: Guns on college campuses, guns in employee parking lots, religious monuments on public property, etc. Most of these are mildly humorous, even if they will cost taxpayers millions in eventual legal costs when they are challenged in court.

At least one little known bill, however, Senate Bill 373, is downright scary if you care about freedom of the press and being informed about our state government’s behind-the-door machinations. In short, it is an end run around the state’s Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1967 and signed by Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. That act has served the public well for years and does not need to be tampered with.

In short, what 373 will do is exempt pretty much any document involving a state agency under scrutiny or involved in a lawsuit or civil action. The bill is pretty simple: It would shield the press and public from receiving via the FOI any document or correspondence that had been discussed with an attorney. In other words, any internal email, document, contract, paperwork, memorandum, etc., would simply have to be shown to an attorney and then be unavailable to the media or public.

Unbelievably, this passed the state Senate 30-0, with our own Sen. Allan Clark joining in the voting for this complete disregard for government transparency. We’ll give Clark a pass: He never campaigned on wanting open government or for transparency at the state government level, apparently believing, like many of his Little Rock cronies, that us little people who count on papers like this one to keep us informed should just mind our own business.

Our governor, Asa Hutchinson, however, doesn’t get that pass. In 2006, while campaigning, he said “I would pledge to veto any bills that would weaken the Freedom of Information laws in this state. It is something that must be maintained with constant vigilance.”

Let’s see if he keeps his word. Anthony Lloyd Hot Springs