EDITORIAL: Opening up the people's business

In the United States the government's business is the people's business, and for most matters we have the right to see what the government is doing.

If you want to know who the mayor is calling on his city cell phone, you can get that information. If you want to know the details of the bids for a large county construction project, you can have that information. You just have to ask for it.

The state's Freedom of Information Act outlines what information is available and not available to the public, and how it should be requested and delivered. But the system for handling requests varies across the state.

Rep. Bill Taylor, a Republican from Aiken, has sponsored a bill that would make it cheaper and faster for citizens to get public information.

It's a step in the right direction and we applaud Taylor for pushing this legislation.

In Aiken County we're fortunate that we don't have many problems getting the public documents we request. The agencies, from the County government to the Department of Public Safety generally comply with our requests in a timely manner.

However, two Aiken residents, Jane Page Thompson and Claude O'Donovan, told a House subcommittee holding hearings on the legislation this week that they have had problems getting documents from the Aiken County School District during the construction bond referendum campaign in 2010.

Taylor said those stories, and others heard by the subcommittee, prompted the legislation.

The current bill doesn't set time limits for compliance. Taylor's bill would require that the requested materials be produced within 30 days, longer if the information requested goes back more than two years.

Some government agencies charge for the staff time needed to compile the information. The proposed measure would allow only a fee comparable to those charged commercially and no fee at all for information supplied electronically.

We support any move to make public information more available for citizens and the media. Government conducted in the dark is bad government. Let's keep is all out in the sunshine.