AMY PAULIN IN THE NEWS
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Open Government: New Bills Worthy of Support
[The Ithaca Journal]
While closed-door sessions marred this year's legislative session in Albany, lawmakers still did good work to open up government to the residents it serves.
A half dozen bills regarding open government are awaiting Gov. David Paterson's signature, with each bill allowing citizens greater access to records and information. Paterson needs to sign those bills into law, thereby mandating easier access of government information for citizens.
Included in the list of open-government bills awaiting Paterson's signature are those that would allow residents to have access to government agendas 72 hours before meetings, a measure we've supported in the past. Other legislation would reimburse attorneys' fees when someone sues for a violation of the Open Meetings Law and wins, create more online access to government records and require agencies to keep up-to-date, online lists of the records they keep.
An especially interesting bill is one sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, and Sen. John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County. If signed by Paterson, it would require that records subject to Freedom of Information Law be available online whenever possible. If signed into law, government agencies would need to design information and retrieval systems so it would be simple to redact fields that contain personal data, according to a story by Gannett News Services' Cara Matthews (“State lawmakers working to boost open government,” July 4).
A law like that could eliminate the unfriendly experience citizens face when they try to obtain government records. Oftentimes, a FOIL request is greeted with no response, delays or an agency or an office seeking a reasonable extension while it considers the requests. This slows down the process and frustrates citizens, especially when they are seeking records that are needed in a timely fashion.
By putting as many records online in database or other formats, it will allow citizens to, in effect, bypass FOIL. By doing so, government agencies can continue to concentrate on the jobs they are paid to do and citizens can access government information whenever they want on a timetable that suits their needs. The Paulin-Flanagan bill, along with others passed by the Legislature this year, will improve government services. They are worthy of Paterson's support.