COLUMN: GRAMA change all about politics
I am writing today not as a columnist but as a desperate student, trying to get the word out before it is too late. Instead of embracing transparency in our government, the Utah State Legislature has worked to make access to public documents much more difficult and to change the government stance on transparency. We must not allow them to win.
A just government is one that must be transparent. Our strong commitment to that belief has brought about open record laws such as the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Through Utah’s GRAMA, media and watchdog groups can request public records in order to monitor how lawmakers conduct business with our tax dollars.
It creates accountability as it forces the government to be responsible and honest in their public policy decisions. GRAMA ultimately exists to be a constant reminder to politicians that we, the people, are the gate keepers of Utah, not them. The free flow in information is the life blood of any democracy. It must be protected at any cost.
But instead of defending the concept of transparency and openness, our lawmakers have returned back to feudalistic times. In the waning days of the 2011 legislature, the congressional leadership secretly rushed through House Bill 477, an amendment to GRAMA, in an unheard-of three days. Instead of allowing the typical three weeks for a bill to be thoroughly vetted and publicly debated, the congressional leadership rushed HB 477 to avoid public backlash. Under the pathetic guise of “constituent privacy,” the state legislature voted to choke off public information and our spineless Governor Gary Herbert signed it into law.
House Bill 477 works to sharply restrict Utah’s open records law by prohibiting electronic records from being made public. It outright bans public access to lawmakers’ voice messages, text messages, videos and even e-mails.
What this means is that secret dealings with lobbyists will become difficult to monitor if communications are made through 21st-century technology. Lawmakers can conduct illegal practices and the public may never know about it. HB-477 will bring about the elimination of government transparency and, as a result, public accountability.
The reason for HB-477’s passage was political, not privacy. I believe the congressional leadership is preparing to illegally redraw all the districts in Utah and they want to do it secretly. They’re hoping to redraw districts in a way that will gain Republicans more seats in the 2012 election and possibly eliminate Democrat Jim Matheson from his seat. By being able to communicate secretly, the public will not have a chance to review the redrawn districts until it is too late. That, however, will not be the most disturbing change that we will see.
House Bill 477 will alter the government’s fundamental philosophical approach to transparency. Before HB-477, it was the burden of the government to prove why a record must be withheld from the public. All records were considered to be public unless the government could justify otherwise. With HB-477, the burden will be shifted onto the public.
All records are now considered restricted unless the public can show through “preponderance of the evidence that the public interest favoring access outweighs the interest favoring restriction of access.”
If a reporter was requesting chat logs to see if a representative is taking kickbacks from lobbyists, the reporter must present evidence that that is the case. If they cannot, their request is denied. Case closed, end of story.
Repressive governments use such justifications to keep the public from knowing about abuses and wrongdoings. Thanks to HB-477, Utah can now proudly stand with third-world governments in terms of transparency.
We may have lost the battle, but the war is far from done. All over Utah, thousands of concerned citizens ranging from tea party activists to Democrats are rallying together to call for a referendum on HB-477. Our weapons consist of social media, the power of the pen, and you.
In order to hold a referendum and allow House Bill 477 to be brought up for a public vote, we must gather over a total of 120,000 signatures from all counties. Many students, including myself, will be working in the next few weeks to gather the required signatures. Utah State University is in a very unique position. We have thousands of students from every county in the state. What happens here USU could possibly decide what happens for Utah. We must rise up to the challenge.
I urge you to join the Facebook group to learn more on how you can help and to follow on twitter about latest developments. To volunteer to gather signatures, visit stop477.org. Signature sheets are being printed and distributed at this very moment. We only have until April 19 to gather all the signatures. The time is here and the time is now. As Thomas Paine wrote: “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
Justin Hinh is a sophomore majoring in political science and the president of the College Libertarians. He can be reached at justintsn10@gmail.com.