New Jersey lawmakers voted to advance a measure that could make it easier for government agencies to withhold documents under the state’s open records law, casting it as a modernizing bill that would cut back on profiteering businesses.
PoliticsNew Jersey state Sen. Paul Sarlo, beneath the state flag, the Democratic chairman of the budget committee, listens to testimony during a hearing Monday, Monday, March 11, 2024, over his legislation, in Trenton, N.J. New Jersey Lawmakers voted Monday to advance a measure that could make it easier for government agencies to withhold documents under the state's open records law, casting it as a modernizing bill that would cut back on profiteering businesses.
The measure makes a number of changes to New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, which dates from 1975 and aims to make records created and maintained by state and local agencies available to the public. The bill's sponsors pushed back at the notion that it was aimed at limiting access to public records.
In some cases, town officials get overwhelmed by the number of records requests they face, taking over their entire shifts, according to Lori Buckelew, the director of government affairs for the influential League of Municipalities, which represents the state's towns. Processing and redacting one hour of police body cam footage, for instance, could take three hours, she said.