The Democratic-controlled State Legislature appears to have taken a pause in pushing through bills S2930 and A4045, which would greatly undermine transparency in government by amending the Open Public Records Act ( “OPRA”), ostensibly to relieve local government from responding to commercial requests for documents. Democratic leaders first tried to weaken the law during the lame duck session and again in recent days. We cannot assume it will simply go away.

By creating a host of procedural hurdles and eliminating mandatory fee shifting, the bills would essentially reduce or eliminate the availability of the plaintiff’s bar to seek governmental records, making it difficult to effectively obtain records, and — combined with the demise of the established media in the state — plunging the state back toward the days of Nucky Johnson and Frank Hague.