On April 29, the last day of the legislative session, the Indiana House of Representatives voted 71 to 28 to pass the controversial House Bill 1083, effectively exempting the General Assembly from the Access to Public Records Act of 1983. In what is considered by some a great victory for citizens’ right to privacy, and by others a serious infringement on their right to information, the House, Senate and Legislative Services Agency will now write their own rules as to what General Assembly records are available to the public.
“It is the public policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of the government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees,” reads Section 5-14-3-1 of the Indiana Code. Bill 1083 adds this caveat: “Concurrently, this duty must be balanced against the constitutional rights of all citizens to instruct their representatives and to apply to the General Assembly for redress of grievances. In protecting these rights, every effort must also be made to safeguard the equally important right of citizens to privacy in their communications with the General Assembly.”
Bill 1083’s author, Rep. Duane Cheney (D-Portage), originally filed a version concerning confidentiality of public employees’ collective bargaining sessions. When it went through the Senate, a provision was added to put legislators’ e-mail and Internet records behind closed doors, drawing widespread media attention to the bill.
“I represent both meek people and bold people,” Cheney says. “There are some people who loathe any personal exposure, but still have real needs and real fears. I don’t think that their issues are any less valid than those of someone who seeks to be on the front page.” Cheney and other supporters of the bill argue that their constituents will feel more comfortable voicing personal concerns if they know that what they reveal will not become a matter of public record.
Though the reference to e-mail was removed before the final vote, it was replaced by general language referring to “information, whether it be oral, written or in electronic form.”
Critics of the bill see it not as a measure to ensure citizens’ privacy, but a move to obscure the actions of the Legislature. According to James Brown, dean of the School of Journalism at IUPUI, “It sets back the legislators’ accountability to the people who elected them. For example, they can decide that their e-mail is not a public record … They could just do business by e-mail with one another, and no one would ever know what they’re doing.” Brown sees the bill as “clearly, retaliation against The Star,” which requested access to key legislators’ e-mails last year.
Gov. O’Bannon will act this week to sign Bill 1083 or veto it. Seven other states have passed similar laws.
Both sides say that the change in policy will not have immediate effects, but will impact how the public interacts with — and monitors the actions of — the Legislature in the future. “Our largest concern is the long term,” says Steve Key of the Hoosier State Press Association. “As issues come up, the inclination [in the Legislature] will be to make things confidential, to take the easy way out and just exempt themselves. Over the long term, there will be more of a restriction of access to records.”
This is not the case, according to Rep. John Day (D-Indianapolis). Day voted against the bill, but insists that “The goal of most of us in the General Assembly is to promote interaction. My God, that’s the lifeblood of democracy: the interaction of the voters with their elected officials, and I hope we’d never do anything to discourage that.”
To view House Bill 1083 online, go to www.state.in.us/serv/lsa_billinfo
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