The Oregon Public Records Task Force drew a crowd of 20 community members today in Allen Hall to discuss ways to better the public records system.
The task force, chaired by the Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, was formed by House Bill 2002, which Governor Kate Brown signed into law on July 13, 2015. The group of 19 members is set out “to promote greater transparency in government,” according to the state website.
This is the second hearing the task force has had since its establishment. In its first hearing in October 2015, the task force formed a subcommittee to address more than 500 exemptions from public disclosure and discussed establishing response deadlines to records requests, Rosenblum said.
At the meeting, several members in attendance criticized the system, saying it’s “broken.”
A retiring attorney and former journalist David Force said the current Oregon public records law should be called “Oregon Official Secret Acts.”
Local lawyer David Bahr said he specializes in defending clients in public records lawsuits. He has seen some clients asked to pay thousands of dollars for public documents. Bahr said some agencies even have a policy to never waive fee for public record requests. He’s advocating for the elimination of all fees.
UO professor Bill Harbaugh said the fee system is not efficient.
“The agencies are becoming experts in using fees to delay or hide records,” Harbaugh said. “They are doing that when the records are requested by newspaper reporting on something that is obviously a public interest.”
Task force member Rob Bovett said he agrees that the Oregon public records laws are not substantial.
“I, myself, would love to re-write the Oregon public record manual,” Bovett said.
Although the task force has not fully discussed the fee waiver systems, task force member Michael Kron said the subcommittee for exemptions has been very active.
The subcommittee has added more than 100 exemptions into the already existing 300 exemptions and sorted them into categories: Personal privacy, financial affairs, the working of the agency and public safety.
The task force will also examine fees that public bodies may charge for records, and consider whether the state should create a Public Records Advocate, according to its press release.
Rosenblum encourages the public to come to the task force’s monthly meeting, which can be found on its website.
Oregon Public Records Task Force discusses eliminating public document fees
Tran Nguyen
May 8, 2016
University of Oregon professor Bill Harbaugh is asking the task force about its authority on changing the state laws (Tran Nguyen/Emerald)
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