Open Government (H 5326, S 295)

One of the ACLU’s successes in 2007 was the passage of a bill amending the Administrative Procedures Act, an important statute that requires the opportunity for public input during the rulemaking proceedings of most state agencies. The Affiliate bill addresses “loopholes” in the law that some agencies have used to make it difficult for the public to provide meaningful input on proposed rules. Among the practices that the new law prohibits is that of agencies issuing proposed “revisions” of lengthy regulations without giving the public any indication of the actual changes that have been made.