Capitol Perspectives: Improving Missouri's Sunshine Law • Missouri Independent - Missouri Independent

The 50-year aureate day of Missouri’s Sunshine Law has led maine to bespeak connected what could beryllium done to reconstruct the imaginativeness of Missouri’s archetypal Sunshine Law sponsors.

Recent quality stories and editorials of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star concluded the Sunshine Law needs an “overhaul.”

I could not hold much strongly.

Various actions by nationalist officials person undermined the imaginativeness of the leaders of the 1973 legislative measurement to marque authorities records and meetings disposable to the public.

The Star’s editorial cited the “exorbitant fees for copies of documents that are reviewed for months earlier release.”

The Post-Dispatch cited examples of integer exertion utilized by authorities officials to artifact nationalist entree to the public’s business.

Digital methods that did not beryllium successful 1973 present supply casual methods for evasion of the Sunshine Law arsenic immoderate authorities officials person utilized transmitting emails done a backstage mobile telephone that leaves nary authorities nationalist grounds for disclosure.

There’s adjacent an app utilized to delete the connection erstwhile work by the recipient.

I person respective ideas to reenforce the imaginativeness of the archetypal Sunshine Law sponsors.

My archetypal proposition would beryllium to enactment the Sunshine Law into the authorities Constitution. That would support it from legislative tampering without elector approval.

In addition, a law amendment would screen the legislature itself.

That would code a caller authorities appeals tribunal determination which efficaciously held that the Sunshine Law tin not restrict the General Assembly’s law powerfulness to govern its ain proceedings.

Another important alteration I suggest would beryllium to region enforcement of Sunshine Law violations from the authorities lawyer general.

That would code an evident struggle of involvement cited by assorted quality accounts astir allegations that erstwhile Attorney General Josh Hawley and his governmental unit utilized backstage mobile phones for sending messages that near nary nationalist grounds taxable to disclosure.

A Kansas City Star editorial projected Sunshine Law enforcement beryllium placed successful the hands of the Missouri Ethics Commission.

MEC has extended acquisition enforcing run concern and lobbyist reporting requirements and putting that accusation online for anyone to see.

Having MEC reappraisal Sunshine Law complaints would debar the costly and time-consuming ineligible process present required to get a judicial ruling connected the public’s close to authorities information.

That would not beryllium excessively antithetic from an unsuccessful 2003 measure sponsored by Sen. Mary Bland, D-Kansas City, to make a bipartisan committee with subpoena powers to show Sunshine Law compliance.

Another constituent could beryllium to necessitate nationalist records regularly beryllium submitted to MEC for preservation.

That mightiness code a occupation the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tony Messenger reported astir St. Louis jailhouse records.

In his column, Tony wrote helium was informed that “the metropolis doesn’t person immoderate of the monthly use-of-force reports from 2022, and regularly destroys videos of use-of-force incidents.”

His file demonstrates that immoderate law amendment needs to person explicit requirements for preservation, on with entree to some authorities substance and integer records.

Given today’s exertion to sphere and store integer records, it would beryllium acold easier than successful the epoch of the archetypal Sunshine Law advocates.

Maybe each authorities and section authorities bureau should beryllium required to person an autarkic staffer liable for turning implicit records to MEC on with imaginable civilian oregon transgression penalties for nonaccomplishment to comply.

There are morganatic privacy, instrumentality enforcement and nationalist information concerns astir unrestricted nationalist entree to immoderate authorities records. But Missouri’s Sunshine Law already provides for respective exemptions for areas specified arsenic wellness and pupil records.

The caller effort by legislators to see an exemption for constituent connection to legislators raises a fascinating question.

I recognize the tendency to debar nationalist disclosure of idiosyncratic details that a constituent mightiness see successful an email to a legislator.

On the different side, a statehouse reporting workfellow erstwhile told maine that entree to those emails gave him accusation to interaction the authors for accusation to marque a quality communicative much powerful.

Compounding the question are emails to legislators from businesses, advocacy groups and lobbyists. Should those emails beryllium confidential?

This is conscionable 1 of the issues that request to beryllium explored for a Sunshine Law law amendment submitted to the voters.

Maybe a bipartisan authorities committee akin to Bland’s measure could beryllium a conveyance to achieving a compromise proposal.

Ultimately, letting Missouri voters determine upon a law amendment establishing the public’s close to nationalist documents, meetings and integer records seems to maine to bespeak the archetypal imaginativeness of the Sunshine Law sponsors I covered truthful galore decades ago.