Monday may be Eclipse Day, but in Baton Rouge, lawmakers are considering an eclipse for public records laws.
A series of bills filed at last week's deadline would keep government records out of the reach of Louisiana residents. One would allow only Louisiana residents to request public documents. Another would require people who request public documents to show identification to prove they live in the state.
A third bill, authored by Sen. Heather Cloud (R-Turkey Creek) would allow local and state officials to shield more of their records from public view.
"We're talking about town councils (and) mayor's offices, so it is widespread and far reaching," LAPolitics.com publisher Jeremy Alford told WWL's Tommy Tucker. "Anything that goes into the decision-making process from texts and emails to memos and invoices, that would be put behind an iron curtain, so to speak."
Alford says the effort to hide public records began nearly two decades ago during the Bobby Jindal Administration.
"He hid some of his deliberative process information from public review," Alford said.
Alford also suggested that lawmakers filed the bills late so they'd fly under the radar. He also says the late filing of the bills could lead to lawmakers hastily approving them.
"Lawmakers are going to try to end the regular session early on May 20 instead of the first week of June. The reason being is that they're trying to go into a constitutional convention," Alford said. "It seems like they could have been filed earlier to give folks more time to go through them."
