By Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger & Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn
One of the most important facets of the relationship between government and its constituents is the ability for communication and transparency. Equally important is for the protection of the rights of taxpayers to not have their financial and personal rights compromised by those who want to abuse transparency for financial gain or to satisfy a personal vendetta. Such is the case with the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), a nearly 20-year-old statute designed to provide the public with access to public records and documents.
Unfortunately, like much well-intentioned legislation that works effectively in many cases, those who have more nefarious intentions in their utilization of OPRA have required revisions to protect the very taxpayers who are being increasingly victimized.
Some examples of the abuse include:
- Companies who use taxpayer-funded personnel to do business-related research and then sell the information for a profit.
- Political candidates who use taxpayer-funded personnel to do opposition research on their opponent(s)
- Individuals who file requests for government records that are impossible to comply within the seven-day deadline, who then file a lawsuit against the government body to secure attorney fees.
- Individuals who request police body cam footage of traffic stops, and then post it on social media to cause embarrassment, or in at least one case, populate a for profit website.
- Individuals or organizations who OPRA information despite the fact that the information is already available online.
All these situations cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in salaries, legal fees, and materials to accommodate, for intentions that have nothing to do with transparency and open government. Presently, the real cost of implementing OPRA is spread among NJ’s 564 municipalities, 21 counties, and countless local and state agencies. While state agencies and our larger towns can absorb the increasing cost of implementing OPRA, the costs of responding to OPRA requests by corporations and those who abuse it is a crushing to the towns.
There needs to be a balance and the amendments made to the law are intended to strike that balance after the lessons learned over the past 20 years. In fact, there is language in the law to enhance greater transparency. Those amendments alone undercut the false narrative being spun that the legislature gutted OPRA and ignored the efforts of the drafters of the bill who worked with advocacy groups to manage the hidden costs of OPRA which are borne by the local taxpayers.
Bills A4045 and S2930 preserve the protections afforded to the public to have access to government records and amend OPRA to curtail the outrageous abuses that have cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and are occurring more and more with each passing year. The legislation is the culmination of extensive research with input from clerks and government officials across the state. While some have argued that it does not do enough to rein in the costly abuses, it will certainly have a positive impact in protecting the interests of the taxpayers.
As elected officials, we have a duty to protect our taxpayers and not allow the fleecing of public resources including the misuse of legislation designed for the noble pursuit of transparency and access to public records. We firmly believe that we do not have to tolerate abusing the system to have transparency. A reasonable process to allow access to public records, coupled with safeguards to the public fiscal and operational interests is a win-win for everyone.
