This public records bill could help your right to know in Nevada. Some agencies are fighting it

Local governments say new public records bill raises privacy, budgeting concerns

Reno Gazette-Journal

Nearly three dozen states penalize officials who violate public records laws. Nevada isn’t one of them.

A bill heard Wednesday at the state Legislature would change that by imposing fines of up to $250,000 on public agencies or officials that improperly delay or deny records requests.

Senate Bill 287, proposed by state Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, would discourage government officials from slow-walking requests by requiring them to provide a date when they will make records available.

The measure would also bar agencies from charging record-seekers for overhead and labor costs associated with fulfilling such requests. It goes on to eliminate the possibility of adding extra fees when a request requires “extraordinary” resources.

RENO CHARGES $45 FOR COPIES OF POLICE REPORTS

SB 287 is backed by Right to Know Nevada, an eclectic, bipartisan coalition of good government groups and media organizations. Members include the Reno Gazette Journal, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the ACLU of Nevada and the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

Each has successfully sued to force government compliance with the state’s sunshine law, though they suspect they’d spend less time in court if teeth were added to the statute.

More:Judge orders Washoe school district to hand over records from bullying investigation

Patrick File, who teaches media law at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the wording of the current law contributes to a culture of non-compliance.

“The word ‘must’ only appears 33 times in the Nevada Public Records Act,” File said. “The word ‘may,’ meanwhile, appears 58 times in the law, almost twice as many.

“The overall effect of this is that government agencies and entities may consider compliance with the Nevada Public Records Act to be an option, not an obligation.”

Trevor Hayes, a former reporter now serving on the Nevada Board of Regents, was one of several supporters who recounted instances when they said public officials had needlessly stonewalled a reasonable records request.

“(Government) does business on behalf of the people and it does it with tax dollars,” he told lawmakers on the Senate’s Government Affairs committee. “I’ve heard much about nuisance requests. ... It doesn’t exist.

"What’s real is governments tacking on attorneys fees, tacking on fees for redaction. ... This obfuscating and this attempt to hide information has to come to an end.”

Local governments resist public records bill

Hayes and other bill proponents faced stiff resistance from cities and counties worried the measure could violate privacy protections and cost millions of dollars to implement.

“Cities and local governments are very, very serious about their obligation to fulfill public records requests,” said Warren Hardy, a Republican former state senator now lobbying for the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities. “I would somewhat strenuously object to the notion that local governments, as a rule, are trying to hide information from the public. Local governments have a much more difficult task than that.

“We would respectfully submit that the process we currently have is not broken.”

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it has had to pull eight officers off the streets to help redact and fulfill the flood of records requests it received last year. Metro lawyers and lobbyists fear SB 287 would only add to that workload.

They said the bill could even create a “cottage industry” centered around the profits generated by posting photos and videos handed over by police.

The City of Reno argued it would require officials to convert all of the city’s records into an electronic format, threatening to “dismantle the transparency and customer service initiatives we’ve put forward as a local government.” City Clerk Ashley Turney said Reno did not have a dedicated employee tasked with responding to records requests.

More:Reno police report copies used to cost $9. Now they're $45 — the most expensive in Nevada

The RGJ in 2018 reported the Reno Police Department charged $45 for a copy of a police report — more than any other department or sheriff's office in Nevada.

That same year, the newspaper had to sue the Washoe County School District to gain access to records from an investigation into bullying and harassment allegations within the special education department.

Lawmakers closed Wednesday’s three-hour hearing without taking action on SB 287.

James DeHaven is the politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal. He covers campaigns, the Nevada Legislature and everything in between. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.