“Tracking transparency: Lawmakers consider making changes to GRAMA, Utah's public records law”

BY DANIELLA RIVERA, KSL TV

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers are weighing proposals that could change how the public accesses government records under the Government Records Access and Management Act, known as GRAMA. 

HB 64 would make several changes including:

·      Ensuring all public employees are given a summary of GRAMA requirements

·      Making it a crime to delete records to avoid disclosure

·      Extending some deadlines for responses to requests

First Amendment attorney Jeff Hunt, who helped write GRAMA, said the bill includes positive elements but also raises concerns. He pointed to language involving education records which exempts some records from GRAMA, instead deferring to a federal records law.

Lawmakers also home to reverse a last‑minute change to GRAMA done last year that makes it nearly impossible for citizens to recover attorney fees even when a court rules that a government agency wrongly withheld public records — a shift adopted without any opportunity for public input.