The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Task Force voted unanimously on Tuesday to oppose two bills filed in the House of Representatives that would alter the state's open-records law.
House Bill 1726, filed Monday by Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, is "entirely an attack on the FOIA," said Robert Steinbuch, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Steinbuch said people in Arkansas want to see how the sausage is made, and Ray's bill eliminates that process.
"This bill says that essentially that all of the pre-decisional documents are withheld, as well as attorney documents are withheld," said Steinbuch. "So the only thing that's not withheld are the stuff that they already put out there, the new policies, policy statements.”
The Task Force also voted to oppose House Bill 1610, as amended, by Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville.
The original 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.