Legislature chips away at GRAMA

After spending a year reviewing the state's open records and meetings laws, Utah legislators proposed more than a dozen bills suggesting changes during the recent general session — few of them designed to make government more transparent for citizens.

Such proposals were no surprise to Utah's media experts who monitor and advocate for the 15-year-old Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA.

"I think over the last 15 years, there's been a little chipping away here and there," said Mike O'Brien, a Salt Lake City attorney and a Capitol Hill lobbyist for the Utah Media Coalition. "But I don't think we've had an all-out assault until this year."

With the conclusion of the Legislative session March 1, Gov. Jon Huntsman now has decisions to make about whether to sign new changes to GRAMA into law.

Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower said final copies of the bills had not been received by the governor's office, but it was understood that most of the legislation had undergone changes that were palatable to the media and others concerned about government access.

The Associated Press and other news organizations are looking at issues of government secrecy and the public's right to know with the observance of Sunshine Week, beginning Sunday. Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act has long been considered a fairly progressive law, O'Brien said. It established four classifications of records, from public to private, and set out an appeals process that allows people to petition the government for access to protected information.

Since 1991, dozens of changes have added exemptions to the law and kept some records out of reach. The list of Utah residents who have concealed weapons permits, for example, is off-limits.

In the past five years alone, more than 70 bills have altered the law, according to a report of the 2005 Legislative Task Force, which conducted a comprehensive review of GRAMA.

For the most part, the changes have been focused on protecting the privacy of individuals and dealing with advancements in technology that have changed the way information can be collected, stored and disseminated.

Some of the legislation focused on thwarting problems such as identity theft or limited access to information with a commercial value to marketers. Other bills have sought to tighten privacy rules for health information, juvenile court records or family custody matters; strengthen privacy related to health information; or protected juveniles in court or family custody matters.

A handful of others were targeted at preventing certain actions, such as a dispute in the town of Alta when a disgruntled resident recruited friends and family to pummel the town clerk with repeated requests for the same information.