8/7/2019 HB477 INFO - Fact and Fiction PDF (1)

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FICTION #1: FICTION #3:FICTION #2:

HB477 was needed to protect

private, personal informaon.

FACT:GRAMA already protects private and

personal informaon. GRAMA al-

ready states that government records

do NOT include personal notes, com-

municaons or other materials pre-

pared or received by a government

employee or ocer for their personal

use or in their private capacity.

Utah Code 63G-2-103 (22:b:i-ix).

There are several other things that

dont qualify as a government record

under GRAMA, and therefore would

not have to be released to the public.

Utah Code 63G-2-103 (22:b:i-xiv).

Further, government enes can al-

ready release records while blacking

out private, personal informaon.

This is called redacng. Somemes

the same record can contain both

public and private informaon. Re-

dacon allows public informaon to

be public while at the same me pro-tecng private informaon.

FACT:GRAMA already provided for much

of that concern, dening a record,

in part, as a book, leer, document,

paper, map, plan, photograph, lm,

card, tape, recording, electronic data,

or other documentary material re-

gardless of physical form or charac-

teriscs (italics added for emphasis).

Utah Code 63G-2-103 (22)

As noted by the Utah State Records

Commiee chair, Betsy Ross, its not

the form of communicaon or infor-

maon that maers in determining

whether it is public or not, but the

content of the communicaon or in-formaon.

HB477 does update GRAMA so that

things like personal email addresses

and online idenes are classied as

private informaon. This is appropri-

ate, but should be done in legislaon

that does not otherwise destroy thepurpose of GRAMA.

FACT:GRAMA already allows government

oces to charge fees for providing and

reproducing records that are request-

ed. GRAMA does, however, encour-

age government enes to waive the

fee if the record benets the public

rather than just an individual, or if the

requester is the subject of the record,

or if the requesters rights are impli-

cated in the record. HB477 takes away

that encouragement (HB477, lines

699-709). As it is now, governmental

enes are not required to waive the

fees, even for journalists Utah Code

63G-2-203 (4).

Also, HB477 would actually se cer-

tain discussions and debate over tax-

payer money. HB477 would make it

so that data and informaon used in

determining how much money a pro-

posed new law would cost would be

unavailable to the public unl aer

the law was already passed HB477,lines 1221-1222, 1379-1380.

HB477 was needed in order to

update GRAMA for the digital age.

HB477 was needed to protect pub-

lic resources and taxpayer money.

8/7/2019 HB477 INFO - Fact and Fiction PDF (1)

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FICTION #4:

FACT:Rarely does the media go on so-called

shing expedions. Journalists and

media organizaons have neither the

me nor the resources to go on un-

reasonable searches for informaon,

public or private.

Rather, to use a dierent metaphor,

journalists go in search of re when

they see smoke. And then they report

what they nd, re or no re.

In some cases, the media does go to

greater lengths to get public informa-

on, but only because cizens either

need to be informed about a certainissue, or because they have shown a

signicant interest in it.

The media does for the public what

the public cannot always do for itself

in terms of keeping an eye on how the

publics business is conducted.

HB477 was needed to stop

media shing expedions.

FICTION #5:

FACT:As stated previously, government en-

es can and do charge to reproduce

records for the media. GRAMA explic-

ity says government ocials are not

required to spend me and expense

to compile, format or tailor informa-

on in a certain way.

Neither does GRAMA require the gov-

ernment to create a record if one does

not already exist. There are other rea-

sonable provisions to prevent wasteful

spending of public resources. Utah

Code 63G-2-201 (8-9).

Media requests can actually save tax-payer money by exposing waste, fraud

and other problems through respon-

sible research into public records. By

pung a watchful eye on government,

the media brings to light ways in which

the government can save money, and

also hopefully acts as a deterrent to

ocials who might otherwise misusetheir power and public trust.

Media requests for records

cost taxpayers unnecessarily.

The

5 Fictons

behind

HB477s

FACTS

Based on what theyre saying, those

who think Utahs open-records laws

(called the Government Records Ac-

cess and Management Act, or GRAMA)

need to be tightened and that its themedias fault dont really know what

those laws already say. And they dont

know how the media works, either.

Take a look and see what Utahs law-

makers apparently dont know about

the law they want to change.

And then use the website or contact

information below to learn how youcan protect your right to know what

your own government is doing in your

name:

www.saveGRAMA.org

EMAIL: Sanpete477@gmail.com

PHONE: 435.340.0741