New ballot language submitted for proposed changes to Arkansas Freedom of Information Act – Mountain Home Observer

A nonpartisan group of government transparency advocates has revised its proposal for a citizen-initiated act that would alter the states Freedom of Information Act.

On Thursday, Arkansas Citizens for Transparency again submitted ballot language for the proposed 2024 initiative. Attorney General Tim Griffinrejected a previous iterationof the popular name and ballot title on Monday, saying it lacked enough clarity and parts of it would be unconstitutional.

The revised Arkansas Government Transparency Act did not fulfill Griffins request for more detailed definitions of public meeting and communication between members of a governing body. The proposed definitions are part of ACTs efforts to codify a definition of a public meeting, which has long been unclear and frustrating to members of government and the news media, and broaden the legal definitions of a governing body and communication among members.

The new ballot language did include a definition of government transparency, the governments obligation to share information with citizens. Griffin previously said this term needed a definition in his rejection of both the first proposed act and acompanion amendmentthat would enshrine the right to government transparency into the state Constitution.

ACT disagreed and defended its use of the phrase in its submission to Griffins office Thursday.

As you can see, there is no better word to encompass the breadth of rights we are addressing than transparency, the group said in its email provided to the Arkansas Advocate. The other synonyms do not fully embrace meetings, records, and notice.

Another change to the proposal is the addition of a section that would specify how records custodians must contact requesters and inform them whether the records are disclosable or not.

The proposed act would also:

ACT formed in response to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signing of a law enacted during a special session in September thatshields the security records in questionfrom public access. Sanders advocated forseveral more exemptionsto the FOIA that metbipartisan pushbackand did not advance in the Legislature.

The act would also create the Arkansas Government Transparency Commission to help citizens enforce their right to obtain public records and observe public meetings. The initial proposal sought to put some appointments to the commission in the hands of the Arkansas Supreme Court, but Griffin wrote Monday that requiring justices to appoint commissioners violates the separation of powers clause in the state Constitution.

The revised proposal would instead require the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Senate Minority Leader, the House Minority Leader and the Lieutenant Governor to each appoint a commissioner.

The act would also put the commission in charge of handling challenges to FOIA requests from records custodians. The previous version of the proposal would have given circuit courts this responsibility, but Griffin said this would have violated Arkansas ConstitutionalAmendment 80, which governs procedural rules of the courts.

ACT submittedfourpossibleballottitles, all worded similarly, to Griffins office with the proposed act. The group did the same thing with itssecond submission of the proposed amendmenton Wednesday.

ACT initially planned to submit only a constitutional amendment but later realized that it would best be able to create enforceable government transparency policy by proposing an act to amend the FOIA and an amendment that would make the Constitution support the law, theytold an audiencein November.

Griffin has until Jan. 8 to approve or reject the new amendment proposal and Jan. 9 to approve or reject the new act proposal.

With Griffins approval, ACT may begin canvassing the state for signatures from registered voters with a deadline of July 5 for the measures to qualify for the ballot. 90,704 signatures are required for proposed constitutional amendments, and 72,563 signatures are required for initiated acts.

Both the act and amendment would go into effect Nov. 6, 2024, the day after the general election.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. This article was published with permission from the Arkansas Advocate. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: [emailprotected]. Follow Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and Twitter.

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New ballot language submitted for proposed changes to Arkansas Freedom of Information Act - Mountain Home Observer