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On your right to know

Even in this “information age” it is often still surprisingly difficult to get access to public information, as the lack of reporting of crime statistics at Empire City at Yonkers Raceway shows. That’s all the more reason to celebrate the small victories for open government that were achieved in New York last year. Some amendments to the roughly 30-year-old Freedom of Information law were passed in 2008, allowing the public easier access to information. More changes are being discussed, but there is still a ways to go.

One of the victories was a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, and state Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, that took effect in August, requiring that mandatory attorney fees be paid for violations of Open Meetings Law when judges find that secrecy was the reason for the violation. The threat of having to pay hefty legal bills should help deter government agencies, which sometimes blithely ignore the law, from trying to hide public information.

Another step toward more openness came with the passage of a bill, introduced by upstate Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, and state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, that requires the government to supply public information in whatever form it is requested, including CDs. This important change would prevent an agency from saying no to a request on the grounds that records were too “voluminous and burdensome” to copy, a frequently used excuse.

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On your right to know | lohud.com | The Journal News.

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