State Legislators Are Going After the Open Public Records Act a THIRD Time in Six Months

Apr 6, 20241 Comment

On 3/28/2024, Assmb. Coughlin’s office responded to our concerns about the OPRA Bill with the following reply:

Dear Mr. Migueis,

Thank you for your email.

As you may already know, bill A4045 which was scheduled to be considered by the Assembly Appropriations committee Thursday, 3/14, was not heard. The Speaker agrees that the bill can be improved and will take the time needed to continue to listen to public input and the concerns of various stakeholders.

Sincerely,

Louisa Falk

District 19 Office of Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin Link

Yet. according to several sources on Twitter and within our local Government, State legislators will be looking to go after the Open Public Records Act yet again.

Krystal Knapp of The Jersey Vindicator:

Everyone who cares about the public’s right to know in NJ should be prepared for the bad OPRA bill to return this coming week. The Assembly just added an appropriations committee mtg. for April 11. Senate and Assembly both have voting sessions April 15.

I’m hearing reports of legislative leaders and bill sponsors either refusing to meet with some good govt groups or canceling appointments. So much for sitting down with all the stakeholders to work on a better bill.

And of course no revisions to the bill posted yet so once again there will be little time to review the OPRA bill or give feedback before the votes, if the bill does indeed go to committee again this coming week. Link

If these bills pass, NJ would have one of the worst OPRA laws on the books, and the ability of the public and good government groups to obtain documents needed for proper oversight would all but disappear.

BHCW created an easy-to-use email form that allows you to send a message to all the decision-makers connected to these bills with content about our concerns you can edit.

Even if you signed our petition in March, we ask that you take a few seconds and send an email asking state legislators to stop the process of dismantling OPRA.