Obfuscating OPRA
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg often talked about strengthening New Jersey’s open public records law.
Now Weinberg is retired and there is indeed talk of changing what’s known as OPRA.
That would be weakening it to keep more government info confidential.
None of this should be surprising.
Recall that governments on all levels in New Jersey used the advent of the COVID pandemic three years ago to avoid some OPRA requirements.
And since then, the state Legislature has taken steps to shield home addresses of lawmakers from certain documents, thereby hiding the residence of a state senator or assembly member from their constituents. There’s nothing like a public official seeking to go incognito.
The latest proposal comes from Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Danielson of LD-17 in Middlesex County, who told the New Jersey Monitor – a bit snarkily – that after years of meeting voters door-to-door, no one has ever mentioned access to public records.
Of course not. An average voter is not going to ask a legislator about researching documents on a development deal or what the local police chief makes annually.
That’s why we have newspapers, electronic media and news websites.
Danielsen has proposed a four-bill package to change the Open Public Records Act, which is a bit more than 20 years old. OPRA is different from the Open Public Meetings Act, or Sunshine Law, which dates back to 1975.
For years, municipal officials have complained about businesses that routinely file multiple OPRA requests for commercial purposes. Controlling that practice makes some sense, but by any objective measure, some of the other proposed changes do not.
One proposed change would keep confidential any government documents held by a third party and covered by a non-disclosure agreement. Such agreements can be used to shield payouts to employees who settle lawsuits.
There also is a provision that aims to reduce lawyers’ fees.
Keep in mind that lawyers only receive such fees when a government agency is found to withhold records improperly.
The problem is that curtailing fees can dissuade a person or group seeking records from finding representation in the first place.
There’s more – and this one is a doozy.
Buried in the four-bill package is a line that says record requests can be denied if a public employee is required “to conduct research or review government records” in order to fulfill a request. Just about any OPRA request requires some type of “research.”
Broadly speaking, there’s a lot in the bills and changes certainly will be made as we move along.
Beyond the details, however, lies a greater problem. And that is the mindset here – and it’s one that dates back to the pandemic.
The current thinking in state government is not to improve openness, but to weaken it. The almost 50-year-old Sunshine Law, for example, needs to be bolstered to include subcommittees of councils and school boards. This would prevent governing bodies from keeping debate on controversial topics secret by forming subcommittees.
Don’t hold your breath.
Weinberg reacted to the latest news about OPRA with the following tweet:
“This is outrageous. All ‘good government’ friends should be speaking up about this attempt to gut the public’s right to know what your government is doing.”
One suspects – or hopes – there are a number of “good government” friends out there.
But how many of them are in the state Legislature?
Keep moving, keep moving, nothing to see here folks. That’s right, keep moving, keep moving.
Typical New Jersey Democrat Third Worldism. This is what happens when one party, the Democrats, have been in power too long and have gained too much power as a result. The rest of us are nothing but serfs to these elitists. The problem in NJ is that 3 major blocs of legislators control the Legislature: Lawyers, Teachers and Doctors.
So, let’s make everything NON-TRANSPARENT so we can continue to ram laws and regulations down the throats of our ignorant taxpayers. And, while we’re at it, let’s tell the petty bureaucrats in the municipalities that are supposed to SERVE US, say they aren’t going to research anything because it’s too much work.
We have enough problems with idiots who work in the municipal clerks’ offices around the state. They are arrogant little snobs and b*tches that believe they have power over you. Buried in the four-bill package is a line that says record requests can be denied if a public employee is required “to conduct research or review government records” in order to fulfill a request. Just about any OPRA request requires some type of “research.”
First the prosecutors took over the Grand Juries, which were run by the County Freeholders and kept judges & politicians in check, as well as keeping the county and local budgets under control. They said Grand Juries were used as tools of oppression against corrupt politicians and judges. Now look what DAs and Prosecutors have done with the Grand Juries. Turned them into weapons of tyranny against their political opponents–the same reason they took the Grand Jury away from local control.
Now, they gutted the old FOIA laws and turned them into a complicated, non-transparent OPRA law. Now, they want to tell you, if a public official has to do “research”, they don’t have to. Really???? Time to run ALL of the Democrats in Trenton out of town on a rail.
FRED SNOWFLACK: I thank you for your OPRA focus- on the LAW that I prime authored- working with the New Jersey Press Association -and signed by a Republican Governor. As a retired New Jersey Judge[Assemblyman and Senator} I can now interact with you with this email. OPRA preceded Senator Weinberg- who was unable even with her Party controlling both Houses and the Governor-to advance OPRA. Love your reporting on Roundtable
Imho we need to enact shielding of lawmakers home addresses, separate from open information of their actions.
Daniel’s Law was enacted in response to the tragic death of Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas and Mark Anderl. The law prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of certain persons covered by the law (“Covered Persons”) on websites controlled by state, county, and local government agencies.”
We can know what they do, where they enact laws, discussions kept secret, and etc without knowing a home address so some crazy can attack and even murder anyone in government they disagree with.
Also, NomoreMarkistsInDC has never met a real Marxist!
1. New Jersey Great State says I never met a real Marxist. I have. At the U.N., in Europe and in NYC. They are called Communists. History shows that Communists have murdered at least 100-150 MILLION innocent people (their own people, and people from other nations). It’s called Democide.
2. Why do lawmakers get shielding of home addresses, separate from open information of their actions, while the rest of us cannot??? How about 2nd Amendment supporters and Right to Life supporters who have been doxxed by Left-Wing Democrat-Communists and their media lapdogs, and had their addresses, places of work, and phone numbers exposed on the internet?????