BOISE, Idaho — With no debate, the Idaho House on Tuesday voted 42-27 in favor of HB 601, the bill from Rep. Megan Blanksma to add additional public records exemptions for legislators and public officials.
The Idaho Press reports Blanksma told the House the numbers of public records requests regarding lawmakers has been growing, and compliance is costly.
“It’s thought with these … changes and these updates we can limit some of the costs while still providing openness and transparency to the public,” she said.
Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, asked a couple of questions of Blanksma before voting against the bill; no one else spoke. The bill moves to the Senate; it would need to clear a Senate committee, pass the full Senate, and receive the governor’s signature to become law.
The proposed new exemptions cover the identity of those with whom lawmakers communicate when crafting legislation, in most cases; legislative research requests; public officials’ notes; and more.
Blanksma cited figures from the Legislative Services Office showing that there were 90 public records requests in 2015, but 658 in 2019. However, between those two dates, LSO changed the way it counts the requests. While previously, one request was counted as one request, now, one request regarding all legislators is counted as 105 requests, sharply inflating the numbers.
On Tuesday, the LSO responded to a public records request from Jennifer Swindell, editor of Idaho Education News and acting 1st Amendment Committee chair for the Idaho Press Club, about how many public records requests it’s received so far this year, in 2020. The answer: 21 requests, which required about 14 hours of work for responses.
After the vote, Rep. Mike Kingsley, R-Lewiston, asked for unanimous consent to change his vote from “yes” to “no,” but there was an objection, so he wasn’t allowed to change his vote.
As they were addressing the Idaho Press Club at a “Headliner” luncheon not long after the vote, legislative leaders from both parties were asked about it.
House Speaker Scott Bedke said, “There are there some clarifications there in the process. It is still not like the federal process, the FOIA process.”
Congress has completely exempted itself from following the federal Freedom of Information Act.
House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said, “I voted no. … I consider our press and freedom of information to be the bedrock on which our democracy is built, and it’s a rare, rare day that you would see me opposing robust access of the people to information that they need on which to make an informed decision.”
HOW THEY VOTED
Here’s how Treasure Valley representatives voted on HB 601, the bill to add new public records exemptions for legislators and public officials:
Voting yes: Reps. Robert Anderst, Judy Boyle, Gary Collins, Gayann DeMordaunt, Steven Harris, James Holtzclaw, Ryan Kerby, Megan Kiska, Jason Monks, Mike Moyle, Joe Palmer, Scott Syme, John Vander Woude, Jarom Wagoner, and Rick Youngblood.
Voting no: Reps. Steve Berch, Greg Chaney, Sue Chew, Brent Crane, Jake Ellis, John Gannon, Brooke Green, Rob Mason, John McCrostie, Lauren Necochea, Tammy Nichols, Ilana Rubel, and Melissa Wintrow.
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