Friday, Feb. 23, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.
Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, introduced a bill this week that would take a much-needed step toward holding government genuinely accountable.
Care's bill, Senate Bill 123, would require that government agencies respond in two days to requests for public records. What is sadly so important about this measure is that under current law a government agency can completely ignore you. Your only remedy is to sue an agency that likely has a staff of lawyers and deeper pockets than you.
The bill to open up government also would require a government agency to excise parts of a document that warrant confidentiality, when possible, instead of withholding the whole thing, which they often do. The legislation would further require nongovernment agencies that act in the place of government to follow the law, which would protect public records in any government privatization plans. Also, importantly, the bill would place the burden of proof on the government to show that documents are confidential when it is sued for withholding records.
These sound like simple changes, especially considering that openness is a government's best defense against the type of corruption scandals Clark County has recently seen. In the past, however, the Legislature has balked at making records more open based on complaints from local governments, which have claimed that making more records public would cost money. As if accountability should have a price tag.
If the Legislature truly believes that public records are just that - public - those concerns can be mitigated. Care's bill gives government agencies the time and ability to deal with requests designed to harass or overwhelm an agency.
In 1911 the Legislature enacted a law declaring that "all public books and public records" were open to inspection unless declared by law to be confidential. Unfortunately, the law has been peppered with changes and interpretations that have skewed the original intent. Governments often threaten to charge outrageous prices for searching for documents. Or they might just refuse to turn over records. That's what officials did recently at the financially bleeding University Medical Center, a public hospital, declining to give the Las Vegas Sun documents about how contracts were awarded.
There are other changes that should be made to the law, such as giving either the attorney general or the secretary of state - as other states do - the ability to investigate violations of the law.
Care's bill is an excellent start because it would force government to remember that it serves the people - not the other way around.
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