Oklahoma transparency legislation
From Sunshine Review
Transparency legislation proposed in Oklahoma.
[edit] 2009
- See also: Oklahoma Open Records Act
- State Representatives Murphey and Brogdon authored House Bill 1032 [1] which "would put all transactions made with state purchasing cards on the Web every month. Since each transaction would include the amount spent and what it was spent on, it would provide much more information to taxpayers about how their money is being spent. It also would force state agencies to allow renewal of licenses or permits online, saving time for consumers and paperwork for the agency."[2]
- House Representative John Carey (D-Durant) proposed House Bill 1049 [3] that "seeks to clarify that police should make incident reports available to the public, even if there are no arrests." Executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association Mark Thomas is in favor of the bill since "the way some local police jurisdictions have interpreted the law, no incident reports are required unless someone is taken into custody". He said in some circumstances, that essentially permits “secret police actions” with no public accounting, and making it clear that incident reports are required could solve the problem. [4] HB1049 has passed the House, and moves to the Senate for further debate. [5]
- The Oklahoma House of Representatives Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee is considering a bill that would allow the chief medical examiner to withhold the public release of autopsy reports at the request of a district attorney or law enforcement agency if the records may impede an ongoing criminal investigation.[6]
[edit] References
- ↑ [http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/WebBillStatus/main.html House Bill 1032]
- ↑ The Oklahoman, "Continue the push for transparency", March 15, 2009
- ↑ HB1049 history, use the "Basic Search Form" to find HB1049 and click on "Introduced" for the bill's text
- ↑ Oklahoma Press Association official wary of attempts to tweak state's Open Records Act, Enid News, January 25, 2009
- ↑ Enid News, New bill would ensure the public's right to know, February 27, 2009
- ↑ KSWO-TV, "Committee postpones open records bill", Feb 4, 2009
