Editorial from the Los Angeles Times editorial board
Citizens in a democracy should know what their government is doing, but politicians, bureaucrats and judges too often decide otherwise. That’s why federal and state laws guaranteeing public access to government meetings and documents are so important.
This week news media groups, libraries, educational institutions and even the U.S. government are calling attention to the importance of transparency as part of an annual observance called “Sunshine Week.” The event was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors, now known as the News Leaders Association. (Sewell Chan, the Los Angeles Times’ editorial page editor, is a member of the organization’s board of directors).
In addition, courts and government bodies have compensated for COVID-19 disruptions by providing virtual access to proceedings, making it easy to watch but not always to participate. The U.S. Supreme Court became even more transparent, live-streaming oral arguments conducted over the telephone. (It should continue live-streaming when it returns to in-person arguments). And federal officials charged with responding to freedom-of-information requests received remote training on how to process hundreds of thousands of requests.
These are welcome developments. But it’s still too easy for government officials to frustrate the public’s legitimate interest in the workings of government, despite the existence of laws meant to ensure transparency.
Chief among those is the Freedom of Information Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and significantly strengthened in 2016. At a Sunshine Week event at the Justice Department on Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “faithful administration of FOIA is essential to American democracy.”
So-called sunshine laws can be improved further to make it harder for public officials to shroud their decisions in secrecy. For example, state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of SB 1421, has proposed new legislation that would give the public access to additional records about police misconduct and impose fines on agencies that didn’t respond in a timely manner.
On the federal level, Congress should require members of the judicial branch to be more forthcoming about their financial affairs, including any gifts they receive in connection with speaking appearances and reimbursement of travel expenses.
But no matter what the law says, some government agencies will prefer to operate in the shadows. That’s why government must be pressed to be transparent and accountable not just during Sunshine Week, but every day of the year.
