Open government back on track with amendment

A bill that would require the General Assembly to provide public access to its meetings and records seemed to have support – and enough votes to pass it – until the Office of the Controller General said the measure would cost taxpayers $61,500 to administer.

House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said he plans to introduce an amendment Tuesday, Jan. 27, that would remove email correspondence from the Freedom of Information Act, reducing administrative costs.

“The bill is going to move forward,” Schwartzkopf said.

Any measure that contains a fiscal note of $50,000 or more has to be heard by the House Appropriations Committee, which could further delay the process.

“Part of the cost is for retrieval of emails. Without that, the cost drops to below $50,000,” Schwartzkopf said.

Speaker of the House Bob Gilligan, D-Sherwood Park, introduced House Bill 1 on Jan. 6, designed to give the public access to General Assembly meetings and records, except for caucus discussions.

But with the state facing a $560 million budget shortfall next year, the fiscal note seemed to, at first, foil the measure during House hearings.

“It’s questionable where the fiscal note came from and why it came in the 12th hour,” Schwartzkopf said. “At the very most, Gilligan can waive the fiscal note.”

Joanne Cabry, member of the Sussex County Progressive Democrats, who supports open government, said, “I think Rep. Gilligan was blindsided by this. I think people are angry. There are people going up there on Tuesday to Leg Hall to find out what happened,” she said.

“We want to know agendas. We want minutes. That’s not going to cost money. I would be willing to do it for them, for heaven’s sake,” Cabry said.

Although she does not think it would be too difficult to include emails in the bill, she was not particularly concerned they might be exempt.

“This is a distraction with the money, a distraction with the emails. If you look at federal FOIA, you see a lot of redactions,” Cabry said.

“The fact that Gilligan called this H.B. 1 – the first bill of the year – it’s sending a message to the Senate,” Cabry said.

Sussex County Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, is an open government advocate but she agreed personal emails could be deleted from the measure. She said personal emails should be private. Although she is in favor of government-related emails being subject to open government laws, at least H.B. 1 – even without email inclusion – is a step forward, she said.

“But, how can you put a price on freedom of information,” she asked.