You have two choices on Election Day, either vote yes on Proposition 42, or help the local governments and agencies but a black bag on your head so they can keep their actions and decisions secret.
Prop. 42 is the single most important item on the June ballot; if you vote “no” then local government, elected and appointed officials could refuse to provide public information or even hold open meetings because it would involve extra cost. Since everything the government does involves cost, this excuse has no logical or legal limits.
Always looking for a reason to keep the public in the dark about what they are doing, California’s state and local governments have come up with a unique argument to kill public access to information – they just can’t afford to provide it.
The state is refusing to reimburse local governments for complying with the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act, the two laws that guarantee a person’s right to inspect public records and access open meetings. Local government can then refuse to comply for budget reasons.
Prop. 42 will make these laws core government responsibilities, ensuring taxpayers get the information from local governments. If they can’t afford to inform the public, how can they afford to do anything?
The disingenuous argument is that it will cost local governments “tens of millions of dollars annually.” That is throughout the state. The cost locally or per capita is truly peanuts; state law already allows public agencies to charge for reproducing information.
Government agencies and special interest groups have already gone to extraordinary lengths to hide information the public must have to keep their eye on what’s happening in the backroom. In many cases they have intentionally stopped making the routine management reports simply because they do not want the public to know what a lousy job they are doing.
In other cases individuals have used bogus privacy claims to hide their malfeasance or their bloated, and even illegal, pay and benefits from the taxpayers. If Prop. 42 fails they will just say it costs too much to give you the information and slam the door in your face.
Lobbying happens at all levels in California and there is one thing every lobbyist has in common: They want their name and their conversations to disappear from the public record. If you vote no you will be told that the local government can’t afford to collect and show you copies of the emails between your elected officials and those lobbyists.
Will that happen in every case? Of course not, but it will happen much too often and always by those who have plenty to hide; you can bet on it.
Many people believe news organizations are scandal mongers, but if Prop. 42 fails the scandals will remain hidden and then the big lawsuits will start. Meanwhile, you, the public, will be totally in the dark.
There is no logical reason that the cost excuse should be used to deny public access; it’s overhead just like the cost of the human resources department, only much cheaper.
Truth be known, stringent public oversight will ultimately save the government many tens of millions more than it will cost. What too many public officials want saved are their jobs and reputations, not the small cost of complying with the public access laws.
Vote yes on Prop. 42 or stick your head in the black bag the political class has designed for you. It’s your choice.
