Public Records Act needs more muscle

How much do you know about how local governments really work? The local school district, your city or county, an irrigation district or even your mosquito abatement district – all are public agencies and are accountable to the public for how they conduct the people’s business.

Every member of the public has a right to that kind of information.

Usually, the public isn’t especially interested in what can be very mundane matters. After all, the vast majority of public agencies and public officials do their jobs well; few would ever dream of doing something unethical. Even many of these fine public servants would rather that people not know how much they are paid, or learn of any mistakes they’ve made. It can be embarrassing.

That’s why it is essential that we have strong laws to protect our right to know.

Without such laws, the public might never learn how many patients have been transferred out of nursing homes, how many prisoners are awaiting trial, how much water an irrigation district has pumped in the midst of a drought or the size of a school superintendent’s pay raise. Each has been the subject of a public records request from a Bee reporter.

Even with these laws, agencies have ways of delaying the release of information. Others withhold public records using privacy rules as an excuse, or saying the information is part of a lawsuit. In such cases, public entities don’t even have to tell the public how many documents are involved. It’s a great way to keep reporters and the public in the dark.

Linder authored the bill after being contacted by a constituent – not a reporter – who complained about the roadblocks faced after filing a public-records request. San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Steve Greenhut wrote about it back on Feb. 1. Under current law, agencies don’t have to explain why they are exempting certain documents from information requests and they don’t have to identify the documents they intend to keep from public view.

It’s a substantial loophole.

“You have to trust the agency and believe they are acting in good faith,” Linder told Greenhut. “(The bill) is a small step toward making government a little more transparent.”

More than a small step, actually. The only recourse a news organization – or citizen – has to ensure a public agency isn’t hiding vital documents is a legal challenge. Public officials know all too well that their taxpayer-funded budgets give them a big advantage over the public in sustaining lengthy and expensive legal battles.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association says Linder’s bill “targets a common problem for a requester who wants to analyze whether the exemption is properly asserted and whether nondisclosure is narrowly tailored.”

Linder, a small-business owner, has crusaded for lowering taxes and cutting government waste since his election to the Assembly in 2012. We applaud his efforts to improve government transparency and remind public officials that they cannot hide information the public has every right to see.

This bill deserves bipartisan support, passage by the Assembly and Senate, and Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Public Records Act needs more muscle."