A new Nevada Senate measure would upgrade Nevada's open records laws by setting specific timetables to prevent officials from stalling or doing nothing when requested to hand over such documents.

SB123, introduced this week by Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, an
attorney and former journalist, will be reviewed by the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

Barry Smith, head of the Nevada Press Association, said Thursday
that the proposal is "generally good" although some changes are
needed to tighten its wording. He added that Care had asked the NPA
to look over the plan and also wants some revisions.

"The main thing this does is to set some time frames for when government officials need to respond to an open records request,"
Smith said. "The biggest problem has been that a request will go in and nothing is ever heard again. The only recourse at that point is to go to court."

Under existing law, all public books and records of a government entity must be open at all times during office hours for inspection and copying. The only exemptions are for documents specifically declared by law to be confidential - and there are numerous exceptions scattered throughout state law.

SB123 provides that a government agency that gets a record request must within two business days after the request allow the access to the records.

If a record is confidential, a failure by an agency to respond to a request within the two-day period would result in a waiver of the confidentiality status, and if someone was harmed as a result of that waiver that person could sue the agency.

The bill as introduced also provides that confidential status for records wouldn't be permanent, and someone who wanted to see the records could seek a court order granting access to the records after 10 years.

Another section states that a government entity can't deny a request to see a confidential document if the entity can black out the confidential information in that record.

Besides the problems with the time it can take to get public records, state law also lets agencies charge for records - and costs can run $1 a page for copies that would cost pennies at a copying business.

Critics of the existing law also have said the attorney general's office should be given authority to enforce the law.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)