"Government has become increasingly more aggressive in charging fees in response (to) GRAMA requests," Hunt said. "I think that's just going way overboard, and at some point the fees can be so prohibitive that it effectively denies public access."

Case in point:

A University of Utah student who is an animal rights activist filed a GRAMA request for information concerning the treatment of lab primates but was told it would cost more than $300 to compile the information. The University of Utah also told the student he would be billed for having the document reviewed by an attorney. University officials explained that trade secrets, which are deemed private under GRAMA, were among the information and those had to be weeded out of the documents.

Although these incidents are rare, both Campbell and Hunt say they are concerned that slowly, government officials will erode GRAMA's presumption that a document is public unless proven otherwise.

One person concerned about keeping records public is the lawmaker who pushed for the passage of GRAMA in 1991: former House Speaker Marty Stephens.

"I've been teased a little bit at the Capitol that I've been the father of my GRAMA," Stephens told the Deseret Morning News.

On a more serious note, Stephens said GRAMA was created in response to complaints from citizens who could get information with little problem from one city or county but were stonewalled relative to the same information in another part of Utah.

After two years of intense study, legislators managed to classify every possible government record, either as private or public. They also established a time limit of 10 working days by which an agency had to respond to a request, or five days if a request were expedited. GRAMA also established an appeals process by which citizens could appeal a local agency's rejection to the State Records Committee.

"We started with the presumption that all records were open," Stephens said. "At the time the law passed, it was groundbreaking legislation and other states used the language."

Over the past 14 years, Stephens said he feels GRAMA has worked well, but he said the future of GRAMA relies on "the stewardship of governmental officials" willing to follow the spirit of the law.

"Anyone in any position can play games," he said. "You do have some citizens who are mad at some public officials who can use GRAMA to harass them in a way. You've got to have elected and appointed officials who subscribe to the theory that people have to have access to public records."

Campbell said part of the concept of "government accountability" is the public's willingness to participate in government and actually use GRAMA.