AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR PHIL MURPHY DEMANDING A VETO OF THE PROPOSED OPRA LAW S2930

Dear Governor Murphy,

Since the passage of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), it has stood for the proposition that:

“government records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access accorded by P.L.1963, c.7315 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, shall be construed in favor of the public’s right of access”

For over two decades, our State has stood for government transparency and the public’s right to know. This is clearly stated in Section 1 of the current law, quoted below:

“1. Section 1 of P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1) is amended to read as follows:
1. The Legislature finds and declares it to be the public policy of this State that:
[G]overnment records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access accorded by P.L.1963, c.7315 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, shall be construed in favor of the public’s right of access; all government records shall be subject to public access unless exempt from such access by: P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented; any other statute; resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature; regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or Executive Order of the Governor; Executive Order of the Governor; Rules of Court; any federal law, federal regulation, or federal order; a public agency has a responsibility and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizen’s personal information with which it has been entrusted, or information that might reasonably lead to disclosure of a person’s personal information, when disclosure thereof would violate the citizen’s reasonable expectation of privacy, or when the public agency has reason to believe that disclosure of such personal information may result in harassment, unwanted solicitation, identity theft, or opportunities for other criminal acts; and nothing contained in P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented, shall be construed as affecting in any way the common law right of access to any record, including but not limited to criminal investigatory records of a law enforcement agency. (cf: P.L.2001, c.404, s.1)”

One of the amendments that you might have missed in S2930, which has now been passed by the New Jersey Senate and Assembly, is the replacement of this Section. It was cleverly replaced with a new Section 1 that provides definitions, so that the removal might go unnoticed.

This removal alone shows that the true intention of this act is to eliminate the presumption in our law that “government records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access accorded by P.L.1963, c.7315 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, shall be construed in favor of the public’s right of access”

This represents a monumental change from a State policy of transparency to one allowing public entities to use the proposed law to shield themselves from public scrutiny. Additionally, the proposed law would allow public entities to put enormous roadblocks in the process of answering OPRA requests and allow them to refuse to answer at all if a member of the public or press sends the same request to multiple entities. May I remind you that this is the only method by which data can be obtained for statistical review?

For example, information on whether every school district in the State has actually implemented the 2020 Student Learning Standards for Health and Physical Education Curriculum which I call the “safety curriculum.” It protects children from sexual abuse, rape, STDs, STIs, and unwanted pregnancies while instilling in them that they have the right to say no!

What the proposed law doesn’t do is prevent the strain on public entities to answer the demands of commercial data companies who make a profit off the backs of custodians of records. Instead, it provides an expedited process to them, placing their requests over those of New Jersey residents and journalists acting for the public good.

As the fourth president of the United State, James Madison stated:
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
So I ask you, Governor Murphy, in an age of disinformation, do you want your legacy to be one of leaving your residents and constituents in the dark, ignorant and uninformed. Or do you stand by retaining the transparency that allows New Jerseyians to become involved and knowledgeable citizens who are engaged in the governing of this, the State of New Jersey.

You must veto the OPRA bill in its current form and in any future form that would limit the rights of our residents to be informed.

Respectfully,

MICHAEL “MIKE” GOTTESMAN, Founder
NEW JERSEY PUBLIC EDUCATION COALITION