New Jersey lawmakers kicked off National Sunshine Week on Monday by advancing fast-tracked legislation that would overhaul the state’s Open Public Records Act for the first time in more than two decades, claiming the measure would “modernize” the law.
That means we get more stuff when we ask the government for records, right?
Not according to the people who actually file records requests.
“Those who use OPRA—reporters, social justice organizations, unions, and the public—are the true experts in OPRA’s ‘problems’ and should have been involved in drafting any amendments to it,” a coalition of advocacy groups wrote in Wednesday a memo sent to Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders.
The bill’s sponsors, including state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, say the $8 million measure (S2930) would bring New Jersey’s records laws into the digital age, putting more records online and reining in abuse of the law by “data brokers” who file voluminous records requests with state and local governments and then compile and sell the data.
But advocates are calling on lawmakers to pump the breaks on the legislation, saying they were kept in the dark about OPRA reform while the influential League of Municipalities, which lobbies Trenton on behalf of town governments, worked closely with lawmakers.
“We therefore ask that you postpone any floor votes on the bill so that there is sufficient time for review and debate to ensure the bill does not substantially undermine the important public interests served by OPRA.”
Murphy has repeatedly declined to say whether he would sign the measure, which has the support of his fellow Democrats who control the state Legislature and could receive its first full vote next week. Meanwhile, both a top Murphy advisor, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, and the governor’s wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, have publicly expressed opposition. So has Tammy Murphy’s main rival in the state’s DemocraticU.S. Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, and the mayors of Newark and Jersey City, Steve Fulop and Ras Baraka.
“This is a deeply flawed bill,” retired lawmaker Loretta Weinberg said in a video call Wednesday, saying her former colleagues “should know better.”
In a conference call with reporters, advocates said they supported modernizing the state’s records laws but found little in the proposed bill that expands, rather than restricts, access. Among the changes, the bill would require a requestor to use an agency’s specific form, allow towns to sue requestors over requests they believe are intended to “harass” them, and further restrict access to emails and metadata.
“There is no reason to push through this bill right now,” said Antoinette Miles, state director for NJ Working Families. “And it is shockingly ironic that it is being pushed through during National Sunshine Week, when we should be having a conversation about increasing transparency and making sure that we have open government.”
The coalition includes the New Jersey chapters of the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union, New Jersey Citizen Action, NJ Working Families and unions at Rutgers and NJIT.
They cited examples of OPRA requests that led to real impact for their members. Fran Ehret, New Jersey director for the Communication Workers of America, which represents 70,000 public and private sector workers in New Jersey, said her organization has obtained salary information to show women workers were being paid less.
Bryan Sacks, President of Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, pointed to a story from The Record newspaper that showed Rutgers had obscured how it accumulated more than $250,000 in debt for its football program.
“Those of us at Rutgers need a stronger OPRA law, not a weaker one,” he said.
News organizations including NJ Advance Media have also used OPRA to document how government contractors mishandled dead bodies, investigate boardwalk cheating at the Jersey Shore, probe deaths at nursing and veterans homes during the pandemic and conduct a statewide examination of police use of force, among other examples.
Sarlo, the bill’s Senate sponsor, fled reporters following Monday’s hearing and did not respond to messages seeking comment. Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, D-Somerset, the sponsor in the lower house, has declined interview requests but told a reporter from the New Jersey Monitor the press had gotten it all wrong.
“Over half of them are increasing, creating, or improving access to documents,” Danielsen said of the bill’s provisions. “None of you have the courage to print that, right? It’s fake news. As far as I can tell, it’s disingenuous, and it speaks to the integrity of every one of those journalists.”
The state Society of Professional Journalists called on Danielsen to apologize.
“We are appalled that Assemblyman Danielsen has managed to not only attack the integrity of our colleagues, but use a well-know trope that is echoed when one does not like the coverage they are receiving,” the group’s board wrote in a statement.
Weinberg, the former state Senate majority leader and a longtime advocate of open government, said she was troubled by the speed and secrecy with which the bill was introduced, cautioning her fellow Democrats not to anger voters.
“At the national level, we’re talking about the need to protect democracy,” she said. “Well, one of the foundations to protect democracy is to have open, transparent government that the people who elect their representatives can have confidence in.”
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S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X.
