Bill seeks to amend Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to exempt broad classes of government documents

(File Photo/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)
(File Photo/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)


LITTLE ROCK -- A bill filed Monday would amend the state's Freedom of Information Act to exempt broad classes of government documents from disclosure.

House Bill 1726 would exempt communications between a between a public official and government legal counsel and records related "to a needed determination of policy or action." The types of records that would be exempted from public disclosure under the bill would include drafts, notes, recommendations, memorandums and correspondence, among other documents.

"I am proud that Arkansas has a strong Freedom of Information Act," Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, the bill's sponsor, said in a statement. "My bill aims to preserve strong government transparency while addressing the problems caused by people who weaponize FOIA and use it as a tool of harassment to simply throw sand in the gears of state government."

Robert Steinbuch, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and author of a legal treatise of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, called the bill a "disembowelment of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

"This is literally the worst proposal I've seen for the Freedom of Information Act in the almost 20 years I have been in Arkansas," said Steinbuch, who is also a columnist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The bill also would allow the government to charge people for requesting documents if the time it takes to retrieve, review and redact the records exceeds eight hours. Anyone requesting a government record could be charged at the rate for the lowest-paid government employee capable of handling a Freedom of Information Act request or a government-hired contractor tasked with retrieving the records.

The legislation also would exempt "any evidence or materials likely to be used by law enforcement in a criminal prosecution," from the Freedom of Information Act. The government's response time for Freedom of Information Act requests also would be extended from three working days to 10 days, if passed.

Ray said the bill would protect government employees from onerous records requests that can be costly to the taxpayer and take days to fulfill.

"This is to address the problem of uncompensated man hours spent on FOIA requests, which costs taxpayers millions of dollars," Ray said. "Under this bill, simple or modest FOIA requests will continue to be processed free of charge, but people who make requests that are extraordinarily voluminous will need to pay for the costs to compile those requests."

Steinbuch countered that citizens already pay for work related records requests through their tax dollars, saying additional fees is "like calling the police and them dropping a bill off in [your] mail box."

"I'm not worried about the slow gears of government getting blocked. What I'm worried about is not being able to see those gears move," Steinbuch said.

Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, also filed on Monday an amendment to her bill to amend the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to make it easier for public officials to meet without public notice.

The bill would have amended the opening meetings portion of the state's Freedom of Information Act to apply only if there were a quorum of lawmakers present. A quorum is the minimum number of lawmakers needed to be present to take action and differs from body to body.

According to the Arkansas Attorney General's 2022 Freedom of Information Act Handbook, if two or more elected officials meet to discuss official business it could be considered a meeting and must be open to the public.

The amended version of Bentley's bill filed Monday would change the minimum requirement to "more than one-third" of the lawmakers to be present for a meeting to be subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Bentley's bill was voted down in committee earlier this month, but she will have the opportunity to present it again in committee.


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