Sharpen teeth on access laws

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January 22, 2010

Anonymous The Commercial-News Fri Jan 22, 2010, 07:52 PM CST

Vermilion County residents might have noticed their local governmental groups designating members as the go-to people on Freedom of Information Act requests. A new state law designed to ease access for the public requires such designations.

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act supposedly is designed to allow the people really in charge of state and local government — the voters — to gain access to the activities of those who work for them — officeholders and governmental bureaucrats. The recent changes were made to strengthen the law.

What sounds good in theory rarely works well in practice. And so it is with Illinois’ Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act. Both laws are riddled with so many exceptions and vague definitions that anyone searching for information can become frustrated to the point of giving up — which, some would say, is the real intent of the laws.

When the light of public access can shine on governmental actions, people can really understand the actions of their elected representatives.

Illinois residents need to only look just across the state line at Indiana to see public access laws with real teeth — and a Legislature that just made those teeth even sharper.

Hoosier lawmakers just passed a bill that calls for fines for any public official — elected or not — who purposely inhibits public access to information.

Indiana’s Open Meetings law long has stood as a valuable law to help people learn what is going on in their government. The state’s Freedom of Information Act also stands on the side of the public, not those more interested in closed-door deals.

The addition to Indiana’s law will go an extra step to ensure its residents know — in detail — who is doing what and why.

Illinois lawmakers could do much to clean up the state’s reputation — and improve its quality of governing — by adopting even stronger public access laws.

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