Murphy must veto the amended OPRA bill
If you cast your ballot for Democrats this fall, that’s a vote to preserve the great tradition of our American democracy — at least that’s the message strategists are using in their presidential and congressional campaigns, and across down-ballot races, too.
Here in New Jersey, though, it becomes harder and harder to believe.
Last year, the reigning Democrats in Trenton pushed through the loathsome Elections Transparency Act, which upended our nonpartisan election watchdog, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, weakened robust campaign finance laws that targeted pay-to-play laws, and allowed deep-pocketed political donors and corporations to spend more on New Jersey elections.
As we said then — and since — this legislation should never have been signed. It badly damaged New Jersey’s standards for good government.
This year — after a failed attempt in 2023 — we saw the same Democrats, led by Senate President Nicholas Scutari, target the New Jersey Open Public Records Act. The statute, enacted in 2002, gives the public broad access to public documents and government data. An alleged reform bill, sponsored by state Sen. Paul Sarlo, the Bergen County Democrat, moved swiftly through the state Senate’s budget committee two months ago.
Sarlo’s legislation was disastrous — in our view, it was nothing short of a stunning broadside to government transparency. The bill is antithetical to the democratic traditions that Democrats — including Gov. Phil Murphy — are vowing to protect.
Sarlo’s bill, as we noted in March, would have, among other things, limited public access to government email, addresses, email addresses, digital calendars, call logs and dog license information. It also would have banned the release of metadata — information about when electronic files were created — and would have allowed records custodians to deny requests judged to lead to possible “harassment.” Finally, the proposed bill would have changed policy related to fees recouped by attorneys who sue for access to records.
In short, Sarlo’s bill would have gutted swaths of OPRA, a tool essential to our journalism and to the public’s fundamental right to know.
In an hours-long state Senate budget committee hearing on the proposed law, advocates, attorneys, public officials and members of the Legislature all expressed grave doubts about the alleged reform.
So, too, did New Jersey good government advocates.
So, too, did the League of Women Voters.
So, too, did New Jersey labor leaders. So, too, did a broad swath of the New Jersey Democratic coalition.
So, too, did Republicans in the Legislature.
So, too, did broad swaths of New Jersey residents.
So, too, did our readers.
So, too, did we.
After we published an editorial demanding that the governor veto the bill if it was passed, the Assembly pulled the bill from consideration. Legislative leaders, facing significant pressure, promised amendments later in the spring.
Amendments disappointing
Well, this week, amendments — now introduced by a bipartisan cabal — have become clear.
The amended bill, which was set to make its official debut before the state Senate budget committee Thursday, is as unacceptable and egregious as its predecessor. It would:
Continue to limit access to government email and text messages.
Allow public agencies acting as records custodians to charge outrageous fees to release information — without the burden of demonstrating that the released information is complete.
Render it nearly impossible for New Jersey attorneys to combat instances when records requests are denied by public entities. As proposed, the law disables a current feature of OPRA that allows attorneys to recoup fees from agencies that wrongly deny requests.
Remove proposed regulation of socalled data brokers, who use OPRA to source public databases.
Essentially, the worst parts of the original proposal are intact — even after members of the Legislature heard concerns from advocates again last week at a Garden State Initiative forum and at a forum held at Ryder University.
And just as it was in March, this embarrassment of a bill appears to be on a fast track. The Assembly Appropriations Committee was set to consider it Friday. A vote could come as soon as Monday.
Assemblyman Brian Bergen, a Morris County Republican, was an outspoken critic of the bill as first proposed two months ago. In a conversation this week, Bergen conveyed a basic truth about the new law: Its sponsors took a travesty of a bill and made it only slightly less bad.
“The truth is, those pushing this bill have bad intentions,” Bergen said this week. “They want to limit transparency in government. They could amend it 1,000 times and change words around to confuse us, but we know their goal. And we have to stop them.”
CJ Griffin, an attorney well known across the state for her work and advocacy around OPRA, was equally sanguine.
“Democracy, transparency and accountability feel under constant assault the past year,” Griffin said. “Folks are shocked that even after a poll showed 81% of the public does not want this bill to pass, the Legislature is still forging ahead to gut OPRA. When government is less transparent, deep distrust grows. So does the amount of corruption and waste. Hopefully Governor Murphy, Speaker Coughlin and a bunch of brave lawmakers step up and put a stop to this atrocious bill.”
It’s up to Murphy
To date, 2024 has been a year of tectonic change in New Jersey’s political sphere.
Sen. Bob Menendez goes on trial Monday in a federal bribery case. Rep. Andy Kim appears to have prevailed in a heated Democratic primary to replace Menendez, dispatching Tammy Murphy, the first lady, from the race. In pursuing that office, Kim also unleashed a maelstrom by filing a federal lawsuit to eliminate the county line — the longheld practice of giving candidates endorsed by county-level political organizations preferential placement on New Jersey ballots.
The restive grassroots of the New Jersey Democratic Party were pivotal in advancing Kim’s candidacy — and there was palpable public support to trash the line. Democratic voters clearly believe in our democracy — even as their elected representatives eschew that notion in pursuit of raw political power.
As we did in March, we will again lay the burden to stop this unabashed attempt to consolidate power — and circumvent the democracy our legislative leaders claim to love — at the feet of Gov. Phil Murphy.
Before the Assembly pulled the bill in March, Murphy, who has said he supports changes to OPRA to accommodate technology, made his position on transparency crystal-clear. Speaking on one of his regular WNYC “Ask the Governor” segments, he was unequivocal.
“We are all in on transparency,” Murphy said. “I would think if you get something that would address some of the things I just mentioned in a fair way that doesn’t undermine transparency, that’s something that I’m open-minded to ... I haven’t seen anyone with nefarious behavior here. I think there are people who are legitimately trying to address some issues with the system, but we are all in on transparency most importantly. Period. Full stop.”
Governor, these proposed changes to OPRA would do just that — they would undermine transparency and democracy.
Should the bill pass both chambers of the Legislature, you must veto it.