The Missouri Legislature should strengthen the bill to improve enforcement of the Sunshine Law’s requirement for open meetings and records.
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A key provision of the House and Senate bills strengthening the law would increase the fines for public officials who close meetings or hide records from the public.
Currently, an official who purposely violates the law can be fined up to $500. The new proposal would ease the standard of proof and up the fines. An official who acted with “gross negligence” — which is easier to prove than purpose — could be fined $25 to $1,000. An official who acts purposely could be fined $1,000 to $5,000.
Last week the Missouri Municipal League and the Missouri School Board Association testified against the bill, claiming it would scare off citizens who might want to run for unpaid public office. That’s an exaggeration. Only officials acting with conscious indifference to the law would face a fine, and they’re the sort of people who shouldn’t be in public office in the first place.
The Senate should also add a provision backed by Sen. Sarah Steelman, R-Rolla, to ensure that consultants’ reports paid for with public funds are available to inquiring citizens. Recent controversies in Creve Coeur and Kirkwood show why that’s important. Citizens in Creve Coeur wanted to see a land-use document used at a public meeting and then stored at a consultant’s office. The city claimed the report was not a public document because it was in the consultant’s possession.
Eventually, Attorney General Jay Nixon issued a report saying the report was public.
An open space advocate in Kirkwood also had trouble getting a consultant’s report. She thought Kirkwood officials had been lax in getting the reaction of city residents to a proposal for downtown development and wanted to know how many residents the consultants had surveyed. The city first claimed the survey was the consultant’s property, but relented after the Nixon opinion in the Creve Coeur case.
The law needs to be clarified. Ms. Steelman’s amendment would do so by requiring cities to keep on file any studies consultants perform with public money. Sometimes officials — and officious gatekeepers — forget that they are the servants of the people. A tougher Sunshine law might help them remember that.