Despite state House rhetoric at the beginning of the legislative session, nothing much has changed at the Capitol. Our publicly elected government, controlling $5.9 billion of public money, still wants to conduct business in private. It's time for that to change.
The Oklahoma Constitution exempts the Legislature from the Open Meeting Act, the law that ensures public access to virtually every meeting of every public body in the state. With its companion, the Open Records Act, the statutes ensure that the public's business remains public. Although the Legislature controls more money than any other public entity in Oklahoma, its members are unwilling to live by the laws they've enacted for everyone else.
The Legislature may not be required to comply with the Open Meeting Act, but neither is it prohibited from adopting those rules.
In the past two weeks, Jeff Packham, a Journal Record staff member, was denied copies of meeting documents because someone decided they were "internal." Rep. Mark Liotta, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman, each announced meetings on the House floor May 3, but neither posted an agenda. On May 4, Balkman refused to let reporters into a subcommittee meeting. On May 9, Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Howe, announced a meeting on the floor, then held it privately in his office. That same day, Liotta held a meeting, refusing access to Packham but later allowing a Tulsa World reporter in. Also on May 9, Rep. Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher, barred the public from the Appropriations and Budget Public Safety Committee meting. On May 10, Rep. Tad Jones, R-Claremore, refused access to documents from a meeting of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee on Education.
The Senate is an even more egregious violator of the spirit of open government - this session, it has yet to hold a single budget meeting that was open to the public and has made no documentation available on budget issues.
Ironically, both houses profess openness in their own rules. The House rules say, "All meetings of all committees and subcommittees shall be open to the public." The exceptions only allow the meeting to be closed if order and decorum are lost or the physical safety of a witness needs to be protected. The Senate rule is equally protected. The Senate rule is direct: "committees of the Senate shall comply with provisions of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act."
District attorneys are charged with enforcing the Open Meeting Act. No independent entity has authority to enforce House or Senate rules. As evidenced by events of the past two weeks, the lack of an enforcement arm makes the rules a sham.
There is a simple solution that would end secrecy at the Capitol. A joint resolution could direct the secretary of state to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. All the amendment would have to do is eliminate the Legislature's exemption from the same open government laws every other public body must follow.
Would voters pass that? You bet.
Do a majority of our elected state leaders have the integrity to do it? Don't count on it. So far they haven't even shown enough integrity to follow their own rules.