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Time to remove smudges from Sunshine Laws

Editorial

Iowa City Press-Citizen

February 9, 2007

[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.]

For the last 45 years, University of Iowa law professor Arthur Bonfield has provided Iowa legislators with independent, expert advice on how to keep government open, effective and efficient. He was the principal draftsman of the 1978 Iowa Open Meetings Law and of the 1984 revisions to the Iowa Public Records Law. His non-partisan scholarly efforts have allowed the sun to shine on previously dark corners of government business.

So when Arthur Bonfield tells the House State Government Committee that Iowa's Sunshine Laws need a massive overhaul -- as he did Thursday -- it's time for state legislators and government watchdogs to pay attention.

As reported in today's Press-Citizen, Bonfield said that Iowa has been too long without a comprehensive overhaul of its Open Meetings (29 years) and Public Records (23 years) laws. Although both laws have common objectives -- "to ensure as much government in the sunshine as is prudent in light of other important conflicting values" -- shortsighted tinkering and imprecisely defined terms have rendered many of their provisions inconsistent.

In fact, reading through Bonfield's 30-page report, it's astounding how many inconsistencies have developed through decades of ad hoc amendments designed to close specific loopholes or to add specific exemptions -- and that doesn't even begin to address the questions about how electronic communications have altered fundamentally the way boards and commissions reach consensus. It's long past time for these two laws to be brought into harmony.

Rather than just offer more Band-Aid solutions to deal narrowly with the more recent issues surrounding these Sunshine Laws -- including the Iowa state Board of Regents conducting a week-long series meetings that it claims should be counted only as one meeting, the regents reaching consensus via e-mail rather than in open session, the University of Iowa claiming that none of the correspondence of an emeritus staff member should be considered part of the public record -- it's time for the Legislature to deal with these questions comprehensively. We urge the state to follow Bonfield's advice and to appoint an interim legislative committee to draft a comprehensive proposal in time for the 2008 legislative session.

The risk of overhauling the law, of course, is that some legislators will use the opportunity to allow government to retreat into the shadows. Bonfield is optimistic about such results: "I am sure you will neither reduce the openness of our government, nor impair its effectiveness, efficiency, economic operation, or its respect for justifiable personal privacy, in any unacceptable manner." But government watchdogs will have to be on their guard.

Besides appointing an interim legislative committee, the 2007 Legislature could help in the short term by ensuring compliance with the laws on the books. Strengthening language that already prohibits rolling meetings, stopping the meeting by e-mail and toughening penalties would be excellent places for the Legislature to start now as a means of proving themselves worthy of the faith Bonfield has in them to clear all the smudges from the Sunshine Laws.