Web site allows citizens to see restaurant inspection results
April 23, 2009: "Salt Lake County is making it a lot easier, or maybe that's queasier, to find out which restaurants are on the up and up.
Restaurant inspections have always been a matter of public record, but now, with the click of your mouse, you can search for your favorite restaurants to see where they stand." Read the full article here.
Utah 6th in online access to government information
March 16, 2009: "Utah gets high marks for offering online access to government information, yet a recent survey found plenty to criticize. State agencies offer volumes of stuff, but much of it isn't very useful. It can be unorganized, dated and hard to find, and some important information is missing entirely.
The state's chief technology officer said he welcomed the critique and can make more authentic records available online." Read the full article here.
GRAMA legislation
March 11, 2009: "Utah has one of the nation's best open records laws. The Government Records Access and Management Act has many important features, but chief among them is the presumption that documents are presumed to be open unless they meet certain criteria.
GRAMA was nearly altered during the current legislative session in such a way that the public would have lost access to some important information related to their cities, school districts and county governments. House Bill 122, sponsored by Rep. Douglas Aagard, R-Kaysville, would have made it easier for municipalities to deny access to records by classifying them as being related to "pending or anticipated litigation."" Read the full column here.
Senate OKs measure to restrict release of some public records
March 9, 2009: "The Senate gave final approval on Monday to a proposal that will make it easier to keep public records private if they are part of an ongoing investigation or if there is a chance they will be used in a pending lawsuit.
HB122, sponsored by Rep. Douglas Aagard, R-Kaysville, makes changes to the simple "balancing test" provision for eight of the 56 types of records covered under the Government Records Access and Management Act that deal with police investigations and legal proceedings." Read the full article here.
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