Ohio Proposes Strengthening Open Records Law

Officials in Ohio will soon introduce a bill to the state legislature that would improve the state's current open records laws, according to the Plain Dealer. This comes after a recent survey revealed the state complied with requests for records less than half the time. The new provisions would require elected officials to receive two hours of public records training and government offices to create records manuals. Judges could also fine those violating the law up to $1,000 a day. While these changes could greatly improve compliance with the laws, some believe it is not enough. Ohio State Sen. Marc Dann (D-Youngstown) wants a fixed response time for any requests. This would require government offices to respond to requests within a set number of days. The federal Freedom of Information Act requires a response within 20 working days. Another improvement advocated by the Ohio Newspaper Association would mandate that plaintiffs who win lawsuits under open records laws automatically be awarded attorney's fees. This is similar to a law Illinois adopted last year. The promise of recovered costs would encourage more lawyers to take up open records cases pro bono. Currently, judges can decide whether or not to award these fees. This new bill comes after the Ohio Coalition for Open Government conducted a statewide audit seeking public records. The results showed that requests were granted in a timely manner only half the time. In the rest of the cases, requests were denied, delayed, or additional information was requested that is not required by law. In the Cleveland area, requesters of records faced hassles two-thirds of the time.
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