/Keeping legislative contracts secret seen as unusual practice

Keeping legislative contracts secret seen as unusual practice

When asked about Mississippi’s general procurement law, Emily Shaw, senior analyst at the Sunlight Foundation, stated that this would be an outlier. The Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan national nonprofit, promotes transparent and accountable government. The House Management Committee voted Tuesday to make all state contracts signed by the Legislature confidential. However, all state agency contracts and procurement processes are openly public records. The 2008 Mississippi Accountability andTransparency Act established a searchable website where taxpayers can find information on the budgets, revenue and contracts of state agencies. The House Management Committee passed the policy by voice vote, citing state law which says that the Legislature can “determine the rules of its proceedings and to regulate public accessibility to its records.” Only when the committee considers the release of records “necessary to execute the contract”, the exception applies. Don Norman, Starkville Daily News Publisher, stated that the House Management Committee’s decision not to release signed contracts and costs to taxpayers in Mississipp was disappointing. It is always troubling when leaders elected to represent us decide that not operating transparently is the best course of action.” Layne Bruce, Executive Director of MPA, stated in the statement, “The Association feels strongly the just because the state legislature is exempted from certain parts of the state Public Records Act doesn’t mean that it should.” Education of children in this state is one of the most important responsibilities for our elected leaders. Shaw admits that legislators in some states may be exempted from certain laws at times. Shaw stated that legislators in Mississippi, as in most other states, are not allowed to use state resources for their personal benefit… to benefit themselves and the businesses with which they are associated. “If it is difficult to look at contracts it makes it impossible to ensure that law has been followed.” The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press stated that all legislative bodies in Alabama are subject to the public records laws, even though the law does not explicitly state so. * The public records law covers the Louisiana Legislature. However, in one case, the court ruled that legislative work files relating to two bills from previous sessions were privileged records. * Records in Tennessee are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Deborah Fisher, executive director at the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, stated that she has found that reporters who request legislative records have been satisfied. She said that it depends on the identity of the custodian and the confidentiality of the record. Fisher said that she didn’t believe a policy similar to the one in Mississippi would be able to hold water in Tennessee. Fisher stated, “That’s absurd… I don’t believe the Tennessee Legislature would sign any contract that spends taxpayer money and then claim it is confidential.” She pointed out that the Tennessee constitution also affirms citizens’ right to “essentially know” what their government does. Speaker of the House Philip Gunn didn’t respond to multiple requests from Mississippi Today for comment on the House Management Committee passing the policy. Mississippi Today received no reply from the Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves did not respond to questions about the policy. At its November 23 meeting, the Senate Rules Committee will examine adopting the policy. Senator Terry Burton, R-Newton’s Rules Committee, is expected to adopt an identical policy at its next meeting. He stated that it has been a longstanding practice to not release contracts. Burton stated that if there was a contract I wanted to make available to the public, it would be this one. It’s so simple. But the policy is still the policy.” Mississippi legislative leaders claim that only travel expense records are public. The auditor’s financial reports publish annually the salaries of staff and legislators. Georgia’s Legislature functions in some ways similar to Mississippi. It is also exempt from the openness requirements. Attorney David Hudson stated that while committee hearings and draft bills are open, he had never seen the Legislature honor an Open Records Act request. Mississippi’s new policy does not allow legislators to view or copy these contracts. They can only review or read them. Tuesday’s voice vote by the House Management Committee was used to approve contracts signed by the House of Representatives. The policy says that all contracts entered into by The House Management Committee shall remain confidential and will not be made public to any person or entity except as directed by The House Management Committee when necessary. The policy was adopted after Mississippi Today filed a request for public records regarding the state’s contract for EdBuild, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that it hired to study the state’s education funding formula. Jay Hughes, D.Oxford, stated that he also requested a copy. Greg Snowden (R-Meridian), chairman of the House Management Committee, said in an email to Mississippi Today that the new policy did not relate to the request for public records made by the news agency. Snowden explained that the policy clarification we adopted today was solely prompted by members’ requests to review the EdBuild document. Snowden said that there was no policy specifically regarding members’ access to confidential information. “So, our counsel (House & Senate) advised us that we need to adopt a clarified strategy to give members access to which they believe they are entitled.” He wrote. “That was all we did. “We did not change the traditional practice of not disclosing the terms of legislative contracts.” Snowden further defended the committee’s actions: “I would be remiss to not remind you that this was done in an open meeting, at a regular monthly meeting of Management Committee. Other than members of the committee (including media), were permitted to attend. We are grateful for your presence. We were open and transparent in our actions. We acted completely above board and in the open.