American Oversight Releases Statement on Proposed Utah Legislation Restricting Access to Public Records

Today, American Oversight released the following statement regarding the introduction of Utah Senate Bill 240, which, if enacted, would undermine the state’s public records laws by restricting access to all state and local elected officials’ calendars.

Statement from American Oversight Executive Director Heather Sawyer:

“The people of Utah are entitled to know how their elected representatives spend their time and with whom they meet. Publically available calendars are an essential tool for holding our officials accountable, and this bill is a shameless attempt to allow officials to hide their activities from public view. The people of Utah deserve to know what their elected officials are up to, and we hope this effort to evade transparency is defeated.”

The bill received unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday and moved to the full Senate for review.

The measure was introduced just days before Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes’ office is scheduled to appear in a lawsuit regarding the release of his calendars. After his office refused to release the records last year, KSL News appealed to the State Records Committee, which said that Reyes’ calendars are public records subject to release. Reyes has asked a court to overrule its decision.

This is not the first time state lawmakers have tried to undermine Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act. In 2011, the Legislature quickly passed HB 477, which severely limited access to records, including calendars. Facing backlash, lawmakers repealed HB 477 and passed a new bill specifying that personal notes and information could be redacted from calendars and other records.

If enacted, SB 240 would go into effect on May 1 and would not impact the ongoing case involving Reyes’ calendars.