Citizen Christie Henshaw said she had already caught elected officials discussing issues among themselves via e-mail while refusing to divulge the nature of their conversation. Henshaw warned that such actions should not be allowed to skirt around the Utah Open Meetings Act.

Some local government officials suggested handling e-mail as other paper documents. Boyd Ferguson, with the Salt Lake City Attorney's Office, said city employees are not allowed to send an e-mail unless they designate the e-mail as confidential, public policy or other. Ferguson said this allows the city to easily separate e-mails that the public is allowed to see.

Some lawmakers pointed out that ultimately it is up to the government official or employee to be honest about designating e-mail.

"We have to trust that the people who are getting these things do the right thing," Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott pointed out.

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