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03/11/07
Sunshine Week 2007
A guide for negotiating state sunshine laws
By The Associated Press
A guide to understanding the so-called sunshine laws in your
states that deal with open government, how you can use them
and what to do if you hit obstacles.
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The first thing to remember is that you have a right to know.
Government documents -- budgets, environmental studies, contracts
-- are yours to see. The same goes for meetings of elected
bodies. If your town board or city council is meeting, you
are allowed to sit and listen.
There are exemptions -- times when documents or meetings can
be closed -- such as when it comes to security issues or private
employee matters. But for the most part, open government laws
guarantee that you're entitled to know what your government
is doing.
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Let's say now that you want a specific piece of information
-- a town budget or a list of city council members' salaries,
for instance.
The simplest way to get it is to ask for it, which often involves
going to the relevant government office and verbally making
your request.
If the officials you're dealing with turn you down, you can
politely remind them of your state's sunshine law and cite
its statute number. Sometimes that's enough to make them more
cooperative.
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Let's say officials still say no. Then you can make a formal,
written request for what you want: Cite the law, what information
you seek and, if your state has a time-limit to answer you,
remind your officials that they only have so many days to
respond in writing. Make sure to keep copies of or notes on
every request you make.
Now if officials still say no, they must give a reason. If
you don't believe those reasons fit the exemptions in the
sunshine law, you've still got options. But what path you
choose depends on the state where you live.
In some places, such as Hawaii and Connecticut, there are
state agencies that will consider your complaint and possibly
investigate it. Other states rely, at least in part, on the
attorney general's office. Elsewhere, you'll have to contact
your local county prosecutor or hire your own lawyer to challenge
the decision.
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Does all this sound intimidating? Don't worry, there's help
available.
Many states have nongovernmental resources such as university
associations for freedom of information, coalitions for open
government and press groups that can help you in composing
a request for information. A list of such groups can be found
at the Society of Professional Journalists at http://www.spj.org/foicenters.asp?.
For details on your state laws, there are other Web sites
that are helpful. They include:
-- The Freedom of Information Center at the University of
Missouri-Columbia at http://foi.missouri.edu/citelist.html
-- The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press at http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/index.php
-- The Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project at http://www.citizenaccess.org/.
For requests of the federal government, a good resource is
the National Security Archive at http://www2.gwu.edu/nsarchiv/nsa/foia.html.
It has details on the law, its history, exemptions and sample
letters to send to federal agencies.
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One warning: Fighting for your rights can be costly. Government
agencies, whether federal, state or local, may ask you to
pay fees to cover the costs of retrieving or copying records.
In states where you are left to pursue the case on your own,
legal fees can be quite high. Some states allow for the recovery
of legal fees if you win, but legal obstacles and precedent
often make that difficult.
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