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Open Government Act: Recovery of fees in public records suits (SB 2064)

Filed May 27 by Sen. David Hoyle, this bill would restore the law to automatically award reasonable attorney fees to the plantiff winning an open records case. The bill also establishes an Open Government Unit within the Department of Justice and provides funding for three attorneys and a paralegal.

NCPA View: At a time when it is increasingly difficult for the public and press to enforce the public records law by taking the risk that a state court judge will not permit full recovery of legal expenses by the party filing suit, Senator Hoyle's bill rekindles the NCPA's long-standing effort to put North Carolina in the ranks of the best open government states by ensuring "automatic recovery" of legal expenses to the public and press. In addition, Sen. Hoyle's bill provides start up funding for the Attorney General's informal advisory opinion-writing and mediation services in public records disputes.

UPDATE: The full Senate unanimously approved the bill July 14.The bill is on its way to the House. Version 3 of the bill is available by clicking on the button below.

NEW: Bill died in the House without a hearing. N&O story.

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Making a clarification (SB 1581)

Sen. David Hoyle filed a bill to make a clarification to last year's SB 1546. The clarification takes care of an oversight on state employee retirement funds information.

BILL STATUS : No movement on bill after filing.

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Audit report drafts secrecy (HB 2100 and SB 1652)

Sen. Dan Clodfelter (D-Mecklenberg) announced at an NCPA regional legislative roundtable that the Council of Internal Auditing (for state agencies) created in 2007 by House Bill 1401 should be amended to allow for secrecy of all "drafts" of audit reports concerning the evaluation of state agency personnel and performance until the audit report is final. A House version of the bill was filed first. Clodfelter filed a duplicate version in the Senate on May 21. It has been referred to the Senate Select Committee on Government and Election Reform.

NCPA VIEW: This measure can be viewed as a veritable stalking horse for later legislation aimed at shutting down access to all drafts, including those that currently are public records – at least before government documents and reports become final. The NCPA is formulating plans to oppose the rumored amendments. The NCPA legislative committee will discuss and consider those plans when it meets May 23.

RATIFIED: July 17.

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Recreational league rosters (HB 2778 / SB 212)

Rep. Alice Bordsen (D-Alamance) sponsored legislation to make secret all names and other personally identifiable information concerning youths who participate in city and county recreational programs and, possibly, beyond. The legislation was sparked by a NCPA member request to the City of Burlington for rosters of all teams in the City's Parks and Recreation leagues. If for no other reason than to allow parents and coaches to ensure that the players who participate are eligible city residents, the NCPA opposed the bill.

NEW: Both House and Senate pass legislation. Goes on to governor. Click on News Reports button below for details. Ratified version of the bill available by clicking on the Text of Bills button.

NCPA statement on passage of the bill: Bad news for kids, parents and Little League coverage … The local parks and recreation bill that has eaten up so much of our time and effort passed July 9 and heads to the governor for signature. This is the bill that would allow local programs to keep most identifying information about kids and their parents or guardians secret – far away from the scrutiny of the public that pays for such programs and newspapers that have for more years than we can count covered these events. The bill doesn’t make it mandatory, and left the public only crumbs of information, but if history repeats itself – once information is allowed to be restricted, it usually is.

The NCPA fought long and hard to reach a compromise that would protect kids but still allow papers to get what they needed to cover events. We even got close to agreement after offering compromises -- until the other side backed off without discussion or warning. This is bad public policy and bad news for kids and parents who live in communities where officials will exploit this law. This measure “protects” kids from a threat that never existed. It will cost time and money for parks and recs programs already overloaded with work. Parents likely will have to deal with a pile of paperwork if they want their child’s name to appear anywhere – perhaps even on the team’s own roster. And perhaps the worst fallout: This sends a bad message to kids who are getting involved in civic life for the first time via parks and rec events. It tells them that this isn’t something to be celebrated – it’s something to be hidden; something that may put them in danger. That seems a strange message for lawmakers who have dedicated years to public service to send.

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Legal advertising threat (HB 2094)

The ever-present threat that legislation to authorize legal advertising online, in lieu of newspaper legal advertising, is out there again. New York is hearing from the online legals lobby. And with Raleigh lobbyists still engaged by the opposition, the NCPA can expect a revival of this legislation – which was defeated by NCPA-led forces in 2007 – this session.

NCPA VIEW: The NCPA believes public notices must be placed where the public notices. We opposed the bill introduced last year and in response have developed an online public notices web site that will be up and running soon. Members are urged to put their legal notices online now so we can stream these daily and render any need for another site to handle this task moot. NCPA members offer online legal ads at no additional charge to the advertiser, which means the state does not need to invest money in a new service that already is being provided.