In a rare public appearance together, civil libertarians and members of a conservative think tank today proposed legislation in Augusta that they say will strengthen Maine's Freedom of Access Act. The legislation proposes new deadlines for state and local officials to comply with public requests for information.

The conservative government watchdog group Maine Heritage Policy Center joined the Maine Civil Liberties Union for an outdoor press conference in celebration of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to emphasize transparent government and freedom of information. Other participants included the Maine Press Association and Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

"I don't want the general public to ever get the impression that these bills are 'media and press-related only,'" said Mike Lange, executive director of the Maine Press Association. "I think we have to realize that I have the same rights to go into my town office and ask for a copy of the town manager's contract as my 85-year-old neighbor. This is a peoples' bill."

The bill, called the Time for Transparency Act, creates a timeline in which government officials must respond to requests for public records. Under current law, public officials have five days to tell the person whether the document they're requesting is public record.

Under the new proposal, those records would have to be produced within 10 days of a request. Requesters would be given **that same amoutn of time to review a public record, but they may apply for more time if needed.

The bill would also permit people to request copies of public records by telephone. It would also allow a copy of a requested public record to be mailed if the requester pays for postage. While a written request isn't necessary under current law, most agencies ask individuals to do so for record-keeping purposes.

"Transparency without deadlines is no transparency at all," said Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
"We have had to wait months, or sometimes almost a year, to get information that's been requested. So just creating that clarity and a clear timeline I think will go a long way to making it easier on the officials, as well as on the public."

The bill also proposes that every governmental body designate an existing employee to serve as a public information officer to oversee all requests for public records. They say the processing of a request goes more smoothly if it's handled by someone very familiar with the state's Freedom of Access Act.

"We have found at the state and local levels, too often there is a lack of clarity on the part of a local official or state official, and so we have had to intervene at times," said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil LIberties Union. "But generally, a phone call has sufficed -- we have not had litigation in the last couple of years around Maine's Right to Know law. That's why it's so important that the law have clarity about time requirements, about what is open and what is not."

But the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition says they're concerned the deadlines could have unintended consequences, so they're not supporting the bill.

"Current law says you must say within five days whether it's a public record and then make that public record available within a reasonable amount of time," says Mal Leary, president of the Coalition. "We're afraid that if you go to 10 days, folks who clearly have a public record that should give you the public record when you ask for it will take 10 days to give it to you. So that's going to slow down folks, journalists and others who use the public records law frequently, they're going to find out it takes longer to get a record because the folks then have 10 days to give it to you."

The federal Freedom of Information Act applies only to federal agencies and does not create a right of access to records held by Congress, the courts, or by state or local government agencies. Each state has its own public access laws that govern access to state and local records.

The advocacy groups are welcoming feedback to the changes they're proposing to Maine's public access laws and hope to have sponsors present it in the next legislative next session.