Fire District Minutes (H 5179A as amended, S 1025)

There was one small bright spot on the open records front this year. The House and Senate each approved legislation requiring independent fire districts to post draft minutes of their meetings online.  Earlier this year, the ACLU analyzed twelve years worth of Attorney General opinions regarding violations of the open meetings and open records laws, and found that fire districts alone accounted for more than 14% of open meetings violations and 12% of open records violations.  This legislation marks one of the few positive steps for open government this year.