Gov: Can't Afford The Paperwork

Claiming that the requirements would overwhelm federal, state and local agencies in paperwork, Gov. David Paterson vetoed a bill introduced by a local legislator that would have mandated government officials to provide copies of specific source material for distribution at public meetings and hearings.

The governor rejected last Thursday, Sept. 4 Assembly Bill No. 5943, co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey of Maspeth and State Sen. John DeFrancisco of Syracuse, which would have forced agency representatives to distribute copies of the subject matter discussed at a specific session open to the public under the state's Open Meetings Law.

The information regarding a specific resolution, law, rule, regulation, policy or amendment to be discussed at a public meeting or hearing must be made available at least 72 hours prior to the scheduled session, according to the text of the bill. Copies of the source material may also be made available "for a reasonable fee" in the same manner.

Records deemed exempt from disclosure under state or federal statutes may not be made available to the public, it was noted.

In his veto message, Paterson stated that while he approved of efforts to increase transparency in government, the cost of producing the documents within a three-day timeframe would prove to be a strain on the resources of numerous agencies.

"I applaud the sponsors' efforts and encourage all agencies and local governments to make documents available for meetings as soon as they are able," Paterson stated. "While the bill's mandate is burdensome, government at every level should endeavor to improve transparency by making these documents available as soon as it is practicable."

Currently, under provisions in the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), government agencies must decide within five days of receiving a written request for information whether or not to provide such documents to the public.

Such time periods, Paterson noted, are necessary to ensure that all FOIL requests are processed "in an orderly manner that does not disrupt the operations" of a given agency.

Reducing that time frame, he observed, would force each department to make a hasty decision on releasing records and then incur "a serious burden on agency staff" to produce a large number of copies in a small amount of time.

According to information provided by the State Assembly, the legislation was drafted based on the recommendations of the 1989 report published by the Committee on Open Government, which determined that providing copies of certain records to the public at open meetings would "enhance the public's right to observe the decisionmaking process and to make the Open Meetings Law more meaningful."

The report also noted that many residents at that time voiced frustration that they were not provided copies of specific information at public meetings regarding the matter.

Though providing the copies would result in a "minimal" increase in costs for each agency, it was concluded that the measure would go a long way toward making the governmental process more transparent.

Introduced to the State Assembly on Feb. 26, 2007, the bill was passed by the house the following may, with 139 members voting in favor and nine other excused. All 62 members of the State Senate approved the bill on June 3 of this year.

The state legislature may override the governor's veto with a twothirds majority in each house.