THE PUBLIC’S DOCUMENTS

When it comes to Maine’s Freedom of Access law, the good news is that police and municipal officials have gotten better at complying with the rules, according to a recent audit conducted by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. The bad news is that public records weren’t provided to the public more than a quarter of the time.

This situation should be improved at the state level by the Freedom of Access Advisory Committee that was created this spring. A new Web site, which includes FOAA contacts at each state agency and instructions on making a request, and was unveiled by Gov. John Baldacci last week, should also help. At the local level, more and better training is still needed.

A 2002 audit organized by the FOI coalition found that municipal offices, school and police departments often didn’t comply with the Freedom of Access Act, by refusing to produce documents and charging high fees for documents. As a result, improved education about the requirements of the law was promised.

The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee also began reviewing the hundreds of exemptions to the access law spread throughout state statutes and rules. When it became clear this could become a full-time job, legislation was passed to create the permanent advisory committee. In addition to helping in the exemption review, the panel will handle inquiries from the public about interpretation of the records law.

A second audit by the FOI coalition shows work remains to be done on the clarification and interpretation front. This May, volunteers again went to police stations, school departments and municipal offices. They asked for the chase policy from the police department, the district crisis response plan from the school department and attorneys fees paid in 2005 and undischarged tax liens from the municipal offices.

The police provided the information 71 percent of the time, up from 68 percent in 2002. More important, police officers did not follow volunteers home or learn their identity by entering their license plate number into a database as happened during the last audit. Towns provided the information 66 percent of the time, up substantially from 41 percent four years ago. School departments provided information 70 percent of the time, down from 79 percent in the 2002 audit.

Part of the problem may have been that the information requested this time was not as straightforward as the previous audit. A school system lawyer pointed out that requests for a crisis response plan and police chase policy on the same day could have raised suspicion, although e-mails exchanged by municipal employees during the audit showed they were well aware of what was going on.

Requiring, rather than recommending, more education is one answer. Beginning this year elected and appointed public officials in Texas are required by a new state law to receive training in state open government laws. This training consists of free training videos from the Office of the Attorney General. Officials get a certificate of completion by filling out a form that requires the number that appears at the end of the video in the AG’s Web site.

The recent audit shows that many agencies are making progress, but the shortcomings must be more forcefully addressed.