Bills targeting Louisiana’s public records law draw criticism

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Like the federal government, Louisiana allows the public to request and gain access to certain government records. But bills in the state legislature would water down Louisiana’s public records law, drawing condemnation from people who favor transparency.

A portion of Senate Bill 482, by Sen. Heather Cloud (R-Turkey Creek), would block access to any records “reflecting advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations,” that are part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are made.

“We find that very problematic,” said attorney Melia Cerrato, a Sunshine Legal Fellow at Tulane’s First Amendment Law Clinic.

Cerrato says reducing access to public records undermines public trust.

“Limiting public records like this lets the government operate in secret. And it erodes that public trust,” she said. “This bill creates a huge carve-out to our state public records law.

“This bill would essentially exempt all government records at all levels of government — from your city, your town, your parish to your state. So, this isn’t just to the governor. This is for every elected official and public agency that we have elected and our taxpayers fund.”

Dillard University political analyst Dr. Robert Collins said he thinks such a law, if passed, would prompt lawsuits.

“It’s bad from a public policy standpoint and a transparency standpoint,” Collins said. “And also, this law would — if passed — almost certainly automatically be challenged on First Amendment grounds.”

Another piece of legislation — HB 461 by Rep. Steven Jackson (D-Shreveport) — recently won approval in the House. It would allow confidentiality of certain information related to active economic development negotiations involving local governments.

“This will add local and parish governments to that statute,” Jackson said. “This is an already existing statute. LED (local economic development) already is exempt under this statute, as well as ports,” Jackson said just before the House voted.

But Jackson’s legislation faced opposition in the House Governmental Affairs Committee from an attorney representing the Louisiana Press Association.

“The local governments, they’re not the economic development districts,” attorney Scott Sternberg told the committee. “They’re not the ports and it’s not LED. They are the folks that are signing the bus contracts and making sure that people have appropriate housing and things of that nature. And those are the kind of records that people should be able to check up on their government for.”

Cerrato says that bill would deprive the public of valuable information.

“This bill definitely shrouds local governments in secrecy, and not only hides records of how public funds and how public lands are potentially used, but more broadly, it’s how public business is being conducted,” she said.

SB 423 by Sen. Jay Morris (R-West Monroe) would allow only Louisiana citizens to request public records. And SB 502 by Sen. Blake Miguez (R-New Iberia) would require people who want to inspect, copy or reproduce public records to provide “sufficient” information to verify their age and identification.

Collins said he believes that, collectively, the bills are intended to target news media. But he said, “I’m guessing anybody — not just in the media, but anybody that cares about transparency and the First Amendment — is going to be opposed to these laws.”

Cerrato said limiting access to public records to Louisiana citizens will hurt students attending Louisiana colleges and universities who come from outside the state or country.

“We have a case in which a father of a man was murdered in Louisiana, and he sought access to those public records about the death of his son,” she said. “Under these two bills, that man — who is a Missouri resident just looking for answers about (the) handling of his child’s death — this bill would tell that grieving father he has no right to see those investigative records.”

Fox 8 requested comment from the governor and the lawmakers sponsoring the four bills, but did not receive responses.

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