When it comes to government transparency and a vigorous commitment from public officials to make sure public information remains free and open to anyone who wants to see it, Indiana remains somewhere in the middle of the pack. Some states do it much better, some much worse.
While our state has good days and bad days on the transparency front, we’re optimistic that, in the final analysis, openness in government and freedom of information is a fundamental value.
The issue is front and center this week, which is Sunshine Week, a national initiative designed to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.
Participants in the week include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.
Sunshine Week was launched by the American Society of News Editors in March 2005. This nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative is celebrated each year to coincide with James Madison’s birthday on March 16. Last year, the project was joined by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
To highlight some of what’s going right in Indiana, we point to three awards issued last week by Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency.
Winners of the third annual Sunny Awards, which honor the most transparent government websites in the nation, included 214 websites, including three in our state — the Indiana state website, and the websites for Indianapolis and Marion County.
We’re pleased by those accolades, especially those for Indiana’s state website. Indiana has long been an innovator in the production of digital information, and that goes a long way in ensuring citizens and taxpayers that a strong commitment to openness exists at the highest levels of state government.
Indiana’s underlying laws governing access to government meetings and records are solid. And the presence of Indiana’s Office of the Public Access Counselor has served as a valuable arbiter and educational tool for both government officials and the public.
A major flaw has been that our access laws lacked teeth, a shortcoming the legislature was unable to correct in recent years, despite efforts to amend laws to assign personal civil fines to officeholders who stubbornly or maliciously refuse to abide by them.
Once again this year, a bill to give courts the ability to fine violators hit snags. But late Friday, after the civil fines provision was inserted in the final hours of the session into a related bill, the measure passed. It now goes to the governor for his signature. We trust he will sign it, which will mark a big step forward in making Indiana’s access laws better. That’s yet another reason to celebrate this Sunshine Week.
Meanwhile, we take the opportunity this week to applaud those in government who understand their role as public officials and work hard to ensure the public has access to everything it needs and deserves so that people know what government is doing and why.
Access heroes at all levels inside the halls of government are too numerous to mention. But they should know that their efforts and commitment are appreciated.
We observe Sunshine Week to help its cause of enlightening and empowering people to “play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.”
And we pledge to keep doing our part to praise those who do it right, and to expose those who don’t.