Records-act scrutiny pitched

Ensure requests don’t create busy work, lawmaker says

Rep. Kim Hammer is shown in this file photo.
Rep. Kim Hammer is shown in this file photo.

Voicing concerns that some public agencies are overwhelmed by a deluge of requests for public records, state Rep. Kim Hammer suggested Tuesday that lawmakers discuss efficiencies and ways to ensure state workers aren't being tied up with busy work when fulfilling Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requests.

The proposed talks would come before the Joint Performance Review Committee during upcoming meetings, said Hammer, a co-chairman of the legislative panel and Republican from Benton.

"This is not about eliminating transparency," Hammer said after a committee meeting. "I am not out to build a wall around FOIA. We need to take a look at whether the system is being abused."

Hammer would not offer additional details about which entities were beset by records requests or when a conversation about public records would be heard by the committee. He said he was pressed by legislators and agency directors on the issue.

Freedom of Information Act advocates have been wary of similar recommendations.

Earlier this year, Florida legislators weighed whether to relax the requirement for agencies to pay legal fees if public-records law was violated, with the aim of ending abuses.

Entities, often city-level governments, reported being inundated by what they called frivolous requests made by law firms pursuing lawsuits.

Open-government proponents objected, saying that the proposal could allow state officials to disregard records requests. The bill died during the session.

There was not much room for discussion Tuesday when Hammer introduced the idea at the end of the Joint Performance Review Committee meeting.

But state Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, later said he was prepared to challenge "any effort that would undermine FOIA in any way." Tucker is also a private attorney who often focuses on public-records issues.

"I am eager to learn what is prompting this," Tucker added. "It is very difficult to create a line, to make the call whether a request is trivial or not. That is the reason the line is where it is. People have the right to know what their government is doing."

A Section on 08/31/2016

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