Open records and access to government is important for government transparency and trust. (Photo from www.sunshineweek.org)
It’s Sunshine Week, which isn’t just about journalists. The nonpartisan collaboration of civic, media, education, government and private sectors shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.
And all citizens have a right to both.
Over the years, I have noticed an increase in requests from the public for transparency and accountability. This Sunshine Week, it’s worth acknowledging what Indiana mostly does it right. But there is still room for improvement.
Just this week, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that a college student who sued for voter registration documents is entitled to attorney’s fees since he won at least part of his case. Lawmakers want more transparency on health provider ownership and are tightening contracting rules for agencies.
I want to state first that most governments I have covered do a great job at providing records. That doesn’t mean we always agree, but they are genuine and forthright in their efforts.
But, lately, it is becoming more difficult. Many state agencies, for example, are pushing even simple requests that can be handled in an email through a formal records request process. They often get lawyers involved for basic things, which simply delays the process for everyone.
An example of this came just this week when the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles initially suggested they could fill a request for data on specialty license plates but later required a formal request that takes much longer.
The state has an amazing transparency portal where you can see what each agency is spending and on what; check payroll of state employees; see what the government owes and even look up how many aircraft the state owns.
It could be improved by adding what bonuses are given to specific employees. When we wrote about spot bonuses, we had to formally ask for the data because it wasn’t publicly available. Bonuses shouldn’t be treated any differently than salary in terms of transparency.
Lots of contracts are also in the portal, but some are missing. For instance, in December we were tipped of contracts that Secretary of State Diego Morales had signed with entities who then contributed to his campaign. They weren’t posted in the portal, and we had to request them individually.
Those contacts still aren’t online, which means Hoosiers can’t find out about them without knowing they exist first. In fact, not a single contract is posted since Morales took over in January 2023.
And some agencies haven’t added annual reports to their sites in years. The last one posted for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management was 2019.
Taking it to the courts
Sometimes journalists, like the student above, have to sue for records.
That’s what the Indianapolis Star did recently, and this week published a blockbuster report showing that county-owned hospitals collected $5.6 billion in Medicaid dollars for nursing home resident care but diverted about half of the money to the hospitals instead. This came at the same time as many nursing homes struggled with staffing and quality of care.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is likewise in litigation to find out what the state spent on pentobarbital to restart executions in the state. Gov. Mike Braun is open to finding a settlement that pleases everyone in that case.
He also plans to appoint a new Public Access Counselor by the end of the month. It’s my hope the new counselor will be as vigilant as his or her predecessor. One problem though is that lawmakers have taken some teeth out of the office after the issuance of rulings they didn’t like.
No one should be afraid of transparency, unless of course they are doing something wrong. And I know the majority of elected officials and government employees I have covered in 30 years aren’t. They are upright people serving the public. Secrecy only causes mistrust and casts aspersions on them.
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Niki Kelly