Please Support this FOIA Bill: SB227
Agenda for Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs
UPDATE: We just heard that Senator Clarke Tucker will be running this bill on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM. For those of you who would like to come and speak FOR the bill, please get there a bit earlier on Thursday morning to sign in.
Old Supreme Court Room (OSC), State Capitol, Little Rock, Arkansas
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Bill — SB227: This desperately needed bill defines what a meeting is. We have been asking for a good definition of what a meeting is, so now we have it. See in AR Code 25-19-106 “Open Meetings”.
We, the people, have anxiously awaited such legislation, so finally, this good bill stands a very good chance of becoming law if we support it.
SB227 will make it illegal to have those secret, dreaded backroom meetings of School Boards, City Councils, Quorum Courts, and Prison Board members, bureaus, commissions, or organizations of the State of Arkansas, etc.
The “people’s business” should be conducted in an open and public manner, not on secret email chains, private text messages, or behind closed doors and out of public view of the taxpayer. We, the people, are entitled to “see” how business is conducted by our elected officials. Thank goodness that open meeting laws or Sunshine Laws require that most meetings of federal and state government agencies and regulatory bodies be open to the public, along with their decisions and records.
As the great Patrick Henry said, “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”
SB227— AN ACT TO AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967; TO AMEND THE PROVISIONS OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT OF 1967 CONCERNING PUBLIC MEETINGS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Here are some excerpts snipped directly from the bill.
From page 1:
and from page 6:
This bill is coming first out of the gate Thursday morning, so let this Senate committee know
that you want them to support this good FOIA bill!
Vote YES for SB227.
Also, readers: please try to go to the Capitol and speak “FOR” this bill, if possible.
(It will be Thurs, Feb. 27, 2025 at 10:00 am.)
The public’s right to transparency in government must be preserved to protect our freedoms.
Contact the Senate State Agencies Committee:
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Sending a special thank you to the legislators sponsoring and supporting this FOIA bill.
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