New technologies such as e-mail and other instant messaging modes are complicating open access to the actions of government bodies, a government watchdog group learned this past week.

Common Cause of Utah's Holding Power Accountable Forums looked at the Utah Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA) during a meeting in the Salt Lake City Library.

GRAMA is the topic of a legislative task force looking at records issues since the law was created.

One of those issues is that many records are now electronic and difficult to view. Panelists Joel Campbell, Jeffrey Hunt and Frank M. Nakamura discussed the problems facing the task force.

Hunt offered advice to those seeking access to open records.

"When you walk into a government office, your mindset should be, I am entitled to see everything in here," Hunt said when giving tips to accessing records. The media lawyer, who represents the Deseret Morning News and once worked as a reporter for the newspaper, said that it helps to be courteous and informal.

"The best reporters have the best sources because they keep it informal," he said.

GRAMA requests are commonly filed by journalists, but residents also have needs for government records regarding such things as the land they own, groups with which they are involved, court proceedings, etc.

Several in attendance worried about access to electronic records, including e-mail, instant messaging that happens during and after meetings. The task force is looking at the issue, but many at the forum worried that the legislators might vote to make those documents private.

"That's the way government business is being conducted right now is through e-mail," Hunt said. He said that the lawmakers want the records closed for debate purposes, but that is the exact reason why they should be open.

"We want to know why a decision that affects the public was made," Hunt said.

As Murray's city attorney, Nakamura said that the city recognizes that e-mail is public record, but the problem is in classification and retention — how long a record should be kept.

Campbell, a communications professor at Brigham Young University and another former Deseret News reporter, expects the Legislature to come out with a bill defining e-mail and other electronic documents when the body reconvenes next winter.

This was the second Common Cause forum for the year. The next forum will be on Community and Consumer services and is scheduled for September. For more information, see www.commoncause.org/utah.

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E-mail: nandrews@desnews.com