While everyone has been tuned into the wrangling in Albany over the proposed bailout of the MTA, both houses of the state legislature recently got together to strengthen the state Open Meetings Law. Unfortunately, the bill they passed is now sitting on the Governor's desk awaiting action, and according to several upstate newspapers, he is considering a veto.

Presently, governmental bodies are required to conduct most business in public, with certain exceptions enumerated in the law. The problem has been that the law has historically had few "teeth".

New York courts have been allowed to invalidate actions taken illegally in secret under the old law. However, as the justification section of the NY Assembly bill points out, if a government holds secret deliberations but then "acts" (votes) in public, there may be nothing for a court to invalidate. Under the new bill, a judge could invalidate all or part of an action and impose a fine on the government when "any aspect" of a meeting is closed in violation of the law.

This change is clearly in the public's best interest. The bill passed the Assembly almost unanimously, and also had broad support in the State Senate.

Good government can only be achieved when the public has the ability to know what is going on and participate. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher