Transparency is not free but secrecy costs taxpayers more. Stop bad open records bill.

Fear plays an outsized role in politics. Still, my jaw dropped when Republicans in the Kentucky House last week made openness in government sound like a menace.

Reps. James Tipton of Taylorsville and Jason Nemes of Louisville voiced scary but unfounded claims that private information shared by Kentuckians with their lawmakers could become public unless the legislature sharply prunes the public’s right to know.

They’re wrong. One of the many good things about Kentucky’s Open Records Act is that It shields private communications and protects confidential information from disclosure. It’s been doing that for 45 years.

No lawmaker during the Feb. 26 debate cited any real-life examples of a constituent whose privacy has been breached by an open records request. We can assume that’s because there are none.

There are lots of examples of waste and wrongdoing coming to light because of the Open Records Act, which is a tool for everyone not just the media.

House Bill 312 ends the courts’ role in deciding which legislative records should be public. It cleared the House 71-27 less than 24 hours after the text became public.

Unless the Senate defeats or amends the bill, decisions about access to legislative records would rest entirely with the 16 leaders of the House and Senate who sit on the Legislative Research Commission, which, as Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, said, lets the fox guard the henhouse.

HB 312 also imposes a Kentucky residency requirement to make open records requests.

This change is intended to relieve governments and school districts of voluminous, time-hogging requests, another concern that the law already anticipates: Requests that impose an “unreasonable burden” can be denied, while agencies can collect costs in advance from data-farming commercial interests, including staff costs.

The Kentucky League of Cities and other lobbying organizations should help their members utilize these resource-conserving options rather than trying to fence off Kentucky.

As Rep. Patti Minter, D-Bowling Green, said, “It seems very strange to be drawing artificial lines around state lines when we are trying to get at the truth.”

Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, stressed that requests from other states and countries are processed at Kentucky taxpayers’ expense, which is true.

Transparency is not free. But the alternative — decisions made and deals cut in secret — costs taxpayers far more.

HB 312 makes other questionable, and some acceptable, changes that have been analyzed by the Kentucky Open Government Coalition, which opposes the bill. The Bluegrass chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist is also sounding an alarm.

I understand why lawmakers, especially Nemes, might be spooked. In 2018, a Louisville lawyer asked for messages left for Nemes on the toll-free legislative line and on websites where citizens email lawmakers. The LRC rightly denied the request and the requester challenged the denial in court.

Unless the messages contain something extraordinary, several provisions of the existing law shield them from disclosure. If the lawsuit advances, a judge would rule after examining the records in private. I cannot imagine that these voice mails and emails would be deemed public records, but who knows, maybe there is something there that the public needs to know.

I also cannot imagine that a judge would order the release of photos and videos of victims of shootings and other violent crimes without a compelling public interest. Yet, the House overwhelmingly approved House Bill 273, banning public agencies from releasing such photos and videos. It takes no great leap to imagine how this well-intentioned bill could one day enable a coverup of abuses or wrongdoing.

We can trust the process we have to make good decisions. For 45 years, public agencies and courts have responsibly balanced privacy rights and the public’s interest.

They have done this thanks to an open-government law that is under siege. In past sessions, Petrie has sought to block access to an even wider array of records and can be counted on to renew those attacks if successful now.

Kentuckians need not fear openness. They should fear losing a law that holds politicians and governments accountable.

Don’t be afraid to tell your lawmakers by email or calling 1-800-372-7181 to defend the Open Records Act.

Jamie Lucke is a former Herald-Leader editorial writer.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 11:32 AM.