Indiana Public Access Laws
The Indianapolis Star has an article titled, “Keeping secrets: Hoosiers are wrongly denied access to meetings and information in half of their requests to governments.”
State and local government agencies in Indiana wrongly withheld records or blocked access to meetings in more than half the cases investigated by the public access ombudsman in the last year.
The Office of Public Access Counselor issued a record number of opinions last year as more Hoosiers, increasingly aware of their rights to government information under the law, filed formal complaints with the agency.
About half the requests for help are from regular citizens trying to find out what their government is up to — seeking such routine records as cell phone bills, accurate meeting agendas and police reports.
But state law still lacks what many consider a critical tool: penalties for public officials who flout the rules.
In some cases, agencies simply ignore the access counselor’s formal opinions, which lack the authority to compel officials to obey the law.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the office issued a record 219 opinions, an increase of nearly 16 percent from 2004 and more than double the number issued in 2003.
