State Senator Sarlo sponsors the second Bill Intended to Destroy the Open Public Records Act in Under a Year and We Need Your Help to Stop Him

Senator Paul Sarlo is Sponsoring a Bill that Would Destroy the Open Public Records Act.

According to the Jersey Vindicator, some of the Provisions of this Bill include:

-The bill guts fee-shifting by making it discretionary, not mandatory, which will make it difficult for requestors who are denied records to find lawyers to represent them to fight records denials from agencies that don’t follow the law and wrongfully deny access to public records.

-The bill would make any “draft” private, which experts say makes it ripe for abuse.

-The bill exempts all email logs and call logs.

-The bill makes it much harder to request emails because a “specific subject matter” and “discrete and limited time period” must be provided, and the requestor must identify the specific person (not a job title, for example) whose email must be searched. That means the requestor must know the names of the people involved at the public agency.

-Records custodians can deny any request if the agency thinks it could lead to “harassment,” which is vague and subjective.

The list goes on and on…

This bill is nothing but a pathway to making corruption and bad government actions bulletproof. Even more repulsive is the removal of fee-shifting, which takes away any shred of power middle-class and working-class families have in becoming informed and having law enforcement craft the very policies intended to hold their offices accountable.

This second effort to destroy OPRA in under a year represents an all-out assault on Journalism and good Government. 

Please sign our petition asking NJ State Senator Sarlo to Stop his Assault on Access to Public Records, Journalism and Good Government.

Read About the State’s War Against the Open Public Records Act

Subscribe to BHCW For Free