Better Government Association

Let sun shine on records

Advocate Opinion page staff
Published: Jun 8, 2007 - Page: 6b

A new national survey conducted by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab shows that many people outside Louisiana believe the state has a problem with corruption.

Is Louisiana really more corrupt than other states? We can argue at length about the degree to which this perception is correct, and the degree to which it’s a bum rap. But the perception is there nonetheless, and the best answer to that perception is to make our government open and accountable.

That is why we are troubled by the latest attempts in the Legislature to exempt certain institutions from the state’s public records law, an important law that allows citizens to review the work of government.

We are already on record in opposition to House Bill 841, which would hide all records of the Louisiana Airport Authority pertaining to site acquisition, operation, planning, design, construction or lease of an airport being promoted near Donaldsonville until negotiations are complete. Advocates of the legislation say such secrecy is necessary to protect sensitive negotiations. As we have said before, we do not agree that such secrecy is necessary, and we believe the granting of such exemptions to the public records law will encourage other agencies to seek similar exemptions. A loss of transparency in our government will be the inevitable result.

Yet another piece of legislation, House Bill 964, would shield the proceedings and records of certain nonprofit health-care corporations from public review. The exemption from public scrutiny would apply to nonprofits that partner with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to improve the quality of health care in Louisiana.

In other words, quasi-public institutions such as the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum could be allowed to spend millions in public dollars, but many records of their work would not be open for public inspection.

As the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana has noted, the forum’s health-care outcome and performance data would be shielded from public view.

Even worse, the bill is drafted so broadly that other nonprofits unrelated to the forum or its work could be given the same rights to secrecy.

Does this sound like a good idea?

PAR, a nonprofit, nonpartisan government watchdog group, doesn’t think so, and we agree with PAR’s opposition to both pro-secrecy bills.

As PAR notes, in 2002, Louisiana ranked among the top five states in granting citizens access to public records, according to the Better Government Association’s Integrity Index.

A PAR survey of legislation passed since 2003 shows that lawmakers have passed about 45 laws dealing with public records. Twenty-four of the laws have expanded the realm of what Louisiana citizens are allowed to inspect, while 21 have exempted certain records from the public eye.

These numbers demonstrate the constant struggle between the ideal of government transparency and a more-troublesome impulse toward secrecy.

“While attempting to achieve balance between open government and legitimate privacy concerns, transparency must still remain a primary goal for policymakers,” PAR notes in a recent position paper.

Approval of either of these two pro-secrecy bills would, in PAR’s estimate, “encourage further deterioration of citizen access to open government.” Those in government power typically can find a hundred reasons to shield their work from public scrutiny. But where secrecy thrives, public confidence in government declines.

That is a result this struggling state simply cannot afford.