The Davis County Board of Health has taken a bold step toward empowering the public and ensuring a safe eating experience at restaurants.

Beginning in 2007, all restaurant inspections there will be posted on the Internet in an easily searchable database. The county won't rate the restaurants, but it will post the most recent reports in their entirety. This type of public reporting already is commonplace in many other parts of the country, as well as in many other nations. For some reason, Utah has lagged behind, until now.

The rest of the state ought to quickly follow the Davis County example. Restaurant inspections already are public documents. But in most counties, including Salt Lake, people have to contact or visit the appropriate agency and search for the actual record. That serves little practical purpose for someone who is hungry and wondering about the place down the street.

Restaurant inspections aren't the only thing that will be easily accessible in Davis County. From now on, reports on public swimming pools, day-care facilities, body-art studios and school will be online as well.

A few owners of these facilities are unhappy, expressing worries about the fairness of the inspections. But the ones who take cleanliness seriously have nothing to fear.

It ought to be obvious that this information is important for members of the public. What parent wouldn't want access to a day-care's inspections before sending a child there? It ought to be equally obvious that this new form of public access will make all these establishments more conscious about the need to be clean.

Incredibly, the Utah Legislature briefly entertained a bill during the last session that would have taken the state in the opposite direction. Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, proposed making all such inspections government secrets. Not surprisingly, he had strong support from many in the restaurant industry. But his bill certainly did not reflect a philosophy of good government.

Certainly, the transparency that comes from arming the public with information is a conservative notion. On the other hand, the idea that government should withhold public information belongs in countries that don't share the American notion of government by the people.

Davis health officials studied this move carefully before taking it. We hope their decision ushers in a new era of openness and accountability in Utah.