Legislative Open Records Act.

The Legislative Open Records Act (LORA) requires that a legislative record, as defined, be open to public inspection unless the record is exempt from disclosure under the act. This bill would amend LORA to broaden the records subject to disclosure by making the following changes, among others: (a) Include as a legislative record a writing that contains information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, retained, or subject to control by a consultant of the Legislature. (b) Remove the exemption under LORA that allows the Legislature to withhold a record if on the facts of the particular case the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record. (c) Replace the exemption under LORA for preliminary drafts, notes, and legislative memorandum with an exemption for intralegislative memoranda containing the author's recommendations or opinions, if the public interest in withholding the record is manifestly greater than the public interest in disclosure. (d) Remove the exemption under LORA for correspondence of and to individual Members of the Legislature and their staff. (e) Remove the exemption under LORA for records maintained or in the custody of the Legislative Counsel. (f) Remove the exemption under LORA for records maintained or in the custody of the majority and minority caucuses, and the majority and minority consultants, of each house of the Legislature. (g) Replace the exemption under LORA for records of complaints to or investigations conducted by, or records of security procedures of, the Legislature with an exemption for records the disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to pose a substantial security risk to the Legislature. The bill would require a record subject to disclosure to be provided as an electronic file, whenever possible, at the option of the requester. The bill would require certain information relating to legislative expenditures and meetings and appointments of Members of the Legislature to be produced and published by the Legislature on a monthly basis. The bill would repeal a provision of LORA authorizing the court to award costs and attorney's fees to the Legislature if a clearly frivolous suit is brought against the Legislature pursuant to LORA. The bill would prohibit the Legislature from selling, exchanging, furnishing, or otherwise providing a legislative record subject to disclosure to a private entity in a manner that prevents the Legislature or any state agency from disclosing the record directly.