Open Records in SD

A great stride was taken today in open records legislation in the state. Gov. Rounds signed SB 147 which will great a presumption of openness in South Dakota. The bill will take effect July 1.

With this bill, records in the state will be considered open unless there is an exemption that specifically says they are closed.

There are several exemptions in the bill. Information about ongoing criminal investigations may be kept closed; correspondence, memoranda, calendars or logs of appointments, working papers and records of telephone calls of public officials or employees is exempted; trade secrets do not need to be released; and some private information, like social security and passport numbers, will not be open under the law.

After hearing about all these exemptions, I was worried that the bill really won't do anything to open up records in South Dakota. David Bordewyk of the South Dakota Newspaper Association assured me that isn't the case.

He said that prior to the passing of this bill, when someone would go ask for a record, that person had to prove that they could actually see the record. After the bill takes effect on July 1, the government/public officials will have to prove that someone cannot see the record. This puts the burden of proof on the government if they want to get a record closed, and as the bill says, it creates a presumption of openness of record in South Dakota.

To me, this is really exciting for South Dakota. It creates a government that can be held more accountable by its citizens (and the media), and it puts South Dakota into the middle of the pack in terms of openness of records, Bordewyk said.

After spending years as the state with the worst open government laws, I think it's about time that records be open for public viewing. To me, it's only fitting that we live up to our former state nickname: the Sunshine State.