Editorial:

Time for Legislature to apply open meetings act to itself

Posted 9/26/19

It seems a given in Wyoming: If public officials are discussing public business, they hold a public meeting and notify members of the public, giving them a chance to weigh in.

That’s how …

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Editorial:

Time for Legislature to apply open meetings act to itself

Posted

It seems a given in Wyoming: If public officials are discussing public business, they hold a public meeting and notify members of the public, giving them a chance to weigh in.

That’s how it’s done with county commissions, city councils, hospital boards and a host of other entities that collect and spend our tax dollars. It’s not only good policy to have open meetings, it’s also the law.

Wyoming’s Public Meetings Act says that, unless a meeting’s subject matter falls under one of a limited number of exceptions, all government meetings “are public meetings, open to the public at all times.” In short, our elected officials must deliberate and take action in front of anyone else who wants to show up for their meeting.

However, one of the lesser-known facts about Wyoming’s open meetings law is that it does not apply to the legislative branch (it also doesn’t apply to the judiciary).

For the most part, the Legislature’s exemption is a mere technicality. Our lawmakers debate bills in open session at the state capital and hold open committee meetings around the state; they even provide audio from their discussions online, so anyone can follow along or get caught up from the convenience of their internet browser.

But then there are incidents like what happened last week in Jackson, during a Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee meeting.

On Monday, Sept. 16, committee members had an informal “Lunch and Learn” in which the full panel of lawmakers met with a group of Jackson area business leaders called Jackson Hole Working. Based at least in part on what the lawmakers heard from the group, the panel chose to revive a bill that would prohibit local governments from requiring developers to build or pay for housing.

The bill had not been on the committee’s agenda, nor had the topic of affordable housing, nor the working lunch with Jackson Hole Working.

The nonprofit group later said in a statement that, “at no point during Monday’s lunch did Jackson Hole Working bring up a specific bill or advocate for it one way or another.” However, in moving to take up the bill, Rep. Shelly Duncan, R-Lingle, specifically cited the “testimony at lunchtime,” the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. That prompted folks with a different perspective from Jackson Hole Working’s to cry foul.

“This is why people don’t trust government,” state Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Teton, later complained to the News & Guide. “That’s why people have no faith in government, no faith in what happens, because a group sashays in unannounced, unreported, not displayed in the newspaper, not told to anybody, and says a couple things on one side of the argument. Then, boom, a bill draft comes out.”

Additionally, several lobbyists told the Casper Star-Tribune that “while lobbyists meeting with legislators outside of the agenda was not uncommon, it’s almost unheard of for groups to do so in the meeting space, and uncommon for legislation to emerge immediately after those meetings take place.”

Of course, as the Star-Tribune noted, “However bad the optics were, the meeting was appropriate for one simple reason: members of the Wyoming Legislature are exempt from many facets of the [open meetings] law.”

But as the old adage goes, just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right. And in this case, it’s time for the law to align with what’s right by giving lawmakers no choice but to follow the open meetings act.

This is not the first time that lawmakers have raised eyebrows. For instance, there was the July episode in which the Legislature’s leaders quietly voted by email to study the idea of storing nuclear waste in Wyoming. And back in the 2018 session, Republicans in the House held multiple meetings behind closed doors amid an education funding fight; at one point, the entire chamber held a secret caucus.

Each incident underscores the fact that there’s simply no good reason for the Legislature not to be subject to the open meetings act. It’s silly to argue that there’s something so remarkably different between the public business conducted by Legislature and other government officials that they require different rules.

Just like commissioners or councilors or trustees, lawmakers face situations where it might be more comfortable to close the doors and hold a discussion in private. And just like those officials, lawmakers should have a law that helps them remain transparent, eliminating the ever-present temptation to shut the doors.

Because while secrecy may prove advantageous in the short term, it’s transparency and openness that builds trust and good government for the long haul.

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