Arkansas Press Association Publisher

By Kevin Slimp

| Serving Press and State Since 1873

FOIA bill, passed by House last week, fails twice in Senate

House Bill 1610 by Rep. Mary Bentley, (R, Perryville, which passed out of the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee last Thursday after failing once before, failed again twice this week in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs – once on Tuesday, then a second time Thursday morning.

Bentley’s bill would have amended the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to allow elected officials to meet informally if less than a third of the entire body are present.

The original version of the bill would have defined a public meeting as a quorum, the minimum amount of lawmakers who need to be present to take action. That version of the bill was voted down in committee in March, but Bentley amended it to change the definition of a public meeting to one at which one third or more of a public body is in attendance

“APA, along with other transparency advocates, was strongly opposed to this bill,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “We applaud the Senate for recognizing that the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and public meetings do not need to be made more opaque, and for upholding the people’s right to know what decisions are being made by members of public bodies.”

The Legislature will recess on April 7.