We asked in this space, back in October, “When is it the public’s turn to get a little favorable treatment?”

We were referring to a recommendation that lawmakers create a commission to study ways to help state agencies recover the cost of Right-to-Know Law requests from the public.

The proposal came out of the attorney general’s office, which has to contend with all manner of RTK requests, including some that might fall under the category of “frivolous” or “nuisance” requests.

We understand how aggravating that must be, but the state shouldn’t use that as an excuse to start piling costs on people who make legitimate requests for public information.

There are other, better, proposals for improving the Right-to-Know Law, including restoring the Right-To-Know Oversight Commission.

The makup of the committee that would be established by HB 685 represents a deck that would be stacked mostly with public officials whose interest in open government falls well short of the public’s, yet includes just enough members of the public and media to keep up appearances.

If there’s going to be a study committee, it ought to examine the Right-to-Know Law in its entirety. This bill doesn’t do that. What we don’t need, as we also said last fall, “is another piecemeal amendment that makes state agencies the latest favored category in the Swiss cheese that is the Right-to-Know Law.”

The bill comes before the House this week and members should reject it in favor of one that promotes greater transparency and better serves the public interest.

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