NJPA Advocates Revisions of OPRA, OPMA

TRENTON – The New Jersey Press Association is among a dozen organizations advocating the state Senate amend the Open Public Meetings Act and Open Public Records Act. A full Senate vote is expected June 27.
A June 21 open-letter to all 40 senators, signed by over a dozen diverse organizationswhich experience, first-hand the need for the revisions, noted the time had come to make changes to the laws. The reason is based upon technological changes that made portions of the original laws outdated.
“Doing so is essential to ensure our state’s citizens have ready access to their government records and meetings; thereby affirming New Jersey’s policy of transparency in government,” the letter stated.
Citizens will benefit from freer access to meetings and records, yet strong opposition remains from the state League of Municipalities.
The bills the NJPA and others seek to have amended are S-2512, which would amend the Open Public Records Act and S-2511, which would amend the Open Public Meetings Act.
“These bills properly accomplish what’s good for our state’s citizens and strongly request all senators to cast their vote in favor of both…” the letter continued.
Amendment of the OPRA law would aid the public in “ready access to government records,” it stated.
Redacted records: “Custodians will be required to provide requestors with the redacted version of the document and an affidavit stating the record’s date, author/originator, subject matter or title, number of pages with redactions, and the specific statutory provision or other lawful basis for each redaction.
Only through receipt of such information can a requestor truly determine whether a redaction made is lawful or whether government is using it to hide information.
Electronic records: Public agencies will be required to inform requestors when records may be electronically mailed without charge to the requestor. This provides an easier access to government records and reduces the financial burden that would be imposed upon a requestor who is not aware that he or she can obtain the documents electronically and, instead, pays the agency statutory rates for hard copies.
Public agency websites: Custodians will be required to post on their sites the name, mailing address, electronic mailing address, phone number, and facsimile number for the custodian of records, (thus making it easier for requestors to communicate with such agencies and obtain government records.)
The bill also responds to concerns of mayors and municipal officials since:
Custodians may now assess a special surcharge to recoup costs for voluminous requests. This surcharge addressed the “commercial data-mining” concern expressed by the League of Municipalities and Conference of Mayors.
Courts may issue protective orders limiting the number of requests made by a requestor if the court determines the requests were made for an improper reason, such as to harass or substantially interfere with the operation of a public agency or its employees.
Email addresses provided by government bodies for the sole purpose of receiving official public notifications from these bodies are exempted from OPRA.
For the OPMA bills, the changes would provide:
A public body’s subcommittees may be subject to certain OPMA provisions. Often public bodies create subcommittees that make critical policy decisions, that provision creates additional transparency not previously provided under the statue.
Public bodies will be required to post public meeting notices on their websites, if they have one.
Dealing with digital devices, the amendment would also prohibit “a member of a public body, other than the Legislature, during any meeting of that public body to which the public is admitted, shall communicate privately, by means of communication equipment.]
That would include electronic mail, instant messaging or other technologies that relate to any agenda item at the meeting.
“Recognizing the growing pervasiveness of electronic communications, this will properly foster transparency and the expressly stated ‘right of the public to be present at all meetings of public bodies and to witness in full detail all phases of the deliberation, policy formation and decision making of those bodies,” the letter stated.