Cox to sign bill that limits public, journalist access to some police statements

Governor will sign “Garrity bill”

Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox joined Utah’s Morning News to talk about what he might sign if it makes it across his desk in these final hours.

The governor said he will sign a bill that is designed to protect specific statements of government workers from public records requests. Critics say this makes it more difficult to get information and could undermine the public trust in police and other taxpayer-funded employees. It stems from a case where The Salt Lake Tribune is requesting records from the City of West Jordan that the paper has been denied.

District Attorney Sim Gill take on #HB399 #UTpol pic.twitter.com/GZjG8Xf5Tp

— Morgan Wolfe (@MorganWolfeKSL) March 4, 2022

“It passed unanimously,” Cox said. “So this is one Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on — which is rare in this day and age, although not as rare here in Utah. So we’ll wait for that to come across our desk.”

A Republican also voted no in the full House vote. That coming from Rep. Phil Lyman, Blanding.

The so-called Garrity Bill, also known as H.B. 399, passed through the Senate last night “under suspension of the rules.” This means there was no debate or public hearing about the bill. And because of that, the bill required only one vote to clear the Senate.

Utah’s Black Lives Matter Chapter opposes Rep. Wilcox sponsored #HB399 on limiting government transparency. @SpencerJCox told @kslnewsradio he plans to sign the bill that protects Garrity statements from the public.#utpol #blacklivesmatter #Utah pic.twitter.com/kQSNGUdO2W

— Morgan Wolfe (@MorganWolfeKSL) March 4, 2022

Garrity specifically targets the laws that govern Utah’s public records, known as GRAMA. It passed from the House to the Senate around two weeks ago.

When asked about his no vote, Lyman sent KSL NewsRadio this statement:

“Utah provides that certain records may be classified by the government as “protected,” meaning that they are not available to the public through a records request. Prior to the passage of HB399, there were 83 categories of protected records in Utah code. HB399 brings that total to 84. And the records protected are statements made by an employee of a governmental entity in relation to an investigation related to potential misconduct by the employee. 

Why should government actors have protections that citizens don’t have? In fact, the increase in protections for governments and their agents is growing while the rights of citizens are being trampled. There are records that should be protected, but the records identified in this bill are exactly those records that should be accessible through reasonable means. Denying access to employee statements related to official misconduct denies potential justice to people who have been harmed by that misconduct. This bill is a huge step in the wrong direction.”

 

 

Have you ever seen a story about a government agencies internal investigation?