Des Moines, IA – While Sunshine Week is a 7 day stretch when media outlets make an increased call for open government, the efforts to let the sun shine in are underway everyday. The laws governing open meeting requirements and access to public records have been in place for years in Iowa, but the timing could be right for some major changes. You could call it the CIETC effect. The Des Moines-based Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium came under fire last year over claims of excessive salaries, misuse of public money, and other fraudulent activities. On top of that, the Des Moines Register sued the job-training agency over possible violations of Iowa's open meetings law. Kathleen Richardson is a journalism professor at Drake University and the Executive Secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. She says scandals involving CIETC, the Iowa Board of Regents, and the Institute for Tomorrow's Workforce have created a perception that the public's right to know is not being protected. State Representative Pam Jochum says these incidents have opened the eyes of lawmakers... because they grabbed the daily headlines. But the Dubuque Democrat says an issue that may be even more significant for lawmakers is how more and more Iowa residents are running into trouble gaining access to government operations... especially at the local level. As chair of the House State Government committee, Jochum is in a position to try to make government operations more open to the public. She plans to put together a commission, this summer, complete with journalists, state and local lawmakers, attorneys, and other advocates, to review, update, and tighten the state's sunshine laws. In its current form, Chapter 21 of Iowa Code requires that meetings of government agencies, such as city councils, county boards, and school boards, be open to the public. An agenda and a notice of meeting times and locations must be made available. Chapter 22 explains how to obtain public records, such as e-mails and juvenile court information... and lists the 57 types of records that are not open. There is a place to call if someone feels their elected laders are holding illegal meetings or blocking access to records. Angela Dalton specializes in the sunshine laws and privacy issues for the Iowa Citizen's Aide Ombudsman's office. She says the office receives hundreds of complaints or requests for information, regarding open meetings or public records, each year. Dalton says each complaint is investigated and can usually resolved by simply getting the government agency and the complaintant to work things out. She says it's usually a matter of agencies not knowing the details of the laws. Dalton says the work on public records and open meeting complaints or requests makes up just a small portion of the total work being done in the office. That could be one reason why discussions have increased as to the creation of a special department that only focuses on sunshine laws and open government. Richardson says Iowa needs a citizens access counselor. Richardson says the counselor could also be more involved in enforcing the open meetings and public access laws... especially in handing down written opinions or even punishments. The future of the post could depend on the political climate in Iowa. Representative Jochum says this issue should not be politically, though, because everyone in an elected office chose to do the work of the public, in public. Jochum believes the idea of a citizens access counselor will be discussed this summer. Some other issues could include public access to job applications, search processes and emails, requirements of electronic meetings, and a reduction in the number of confidential records Jochum says she would like to see changes take place before lawmakers leave Des Moines this summer... but she knows that more information is needed before the laws can be updated. And that, at its most basic form, is the goal of Iowa's sunshine laws to make sure that the public has all the information it needs to know how government is operating.
Iowa's Sunshine Laws Could Be Updated
