Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

These principles have been a source of controversy inside and outside the courts since they were adopted by a new nation more than 200 years ago. Each generation must explore the privileges and responsibilities that lie at the heart of the First Amendment. In this spirit, the Oklahoma 1st Amendment Congress is being presented -- two days of thought-provoking exploration into what it means to exercise our First Amendment rights.

The conference will begin 1:30 on Friday, April 23 and conclude at 12:00 noon on Saturday, April 24.

Highlights of the program...

Opening address by Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma Attorney General. 2:15 p.m. Friday.

Senate Bill 480, being considered by the Oklahoma Legislature, would amend the Oklahoma Open Records Act to make confidential most information related to technology transfer from Oklahoma colleges and universities.

The Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is planning a panel discussion to air the topic at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in college Union room 8, Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S May Ave.

SPJ is concerned that SB 480 would allow universities to contract with private companies without the public being privy to conditions of the agreements, said Mick Hinton, chairman of the SPJ First Amendment Committee.

On the other hand, Senator Cal Hobson, author of SB 480, said the universities believe they should not have to disclose terms in contracts because it could hamper their ability to negotiate successfully. Panelists will include Hobson, D-Lexington, Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association, and Dr. Frank Waxman, vice president of research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. An Oklahoma State University representative also has been invited to attend. Moderator will be Paul English, SPJ board of director member and state Capitol reporter with The Daily

The capabilities of the computerized Internet have enabled the Oklahoma House of Representatives to provide the public with fingertip access to a trove of information, according to Speaker Loyd Benson. "We have made a concerted effort to make information about the House easily available to the voters and taxpayers of Oklahoma." Through its home page at

Edmondson is considering proposing such a law in the next legislative session.

PUBLIC BODIES ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LET PUBLIC SPEAK UNDER OPEN MEETING ACT OR FIRST AMENDMENT

Attorney General Opinion No. 98-45, issued to Representative Don Ross on February 24, 1999, addresses the question whether citizens have the right to speak during a meeting of a public body. The Opinion rules that neither the state Open Meeting Act nor the First Amendment to the United States Constitution creates such a right.

The Open Meeting Act, the Opinion reasoned, nowhere provides for or guarantees citizens a right to participate in the governmental decisions being made at an open meeting. Rather, quoting the Act, the Opinion noted that "the purpose of the Act is to 'encourage and facilitate an informed citizenry's understanding of the governmental process and governmental probems.'" The Act is designed "to enable citizens to be present and view the workings of government," but does not require that citizens become participants or be heard at an open meeting.

Citing a 1984 United States Supreme Court decision, the Opinion further held that "the First Amendment rights to speak, associate and petition [the government] do not require public bodies to afford citizens an opportunity to express their views on issues being considered by the public bodies [at a public meeting]."

The Opinion relied upon the decision in Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight, 465 U.S. 271 (1984), wherein the U.S. Supreme Court specifically held that "[policymaking organs in our system of government have never operated under a constitutional constraint requiring them to afford every interested member of the public an opportunity to present testimony before any policy is adopted." To recognize such a right, the Court said, "would work a revolution in existing government policies."

Citing The Federalist No.

Harper County - A Buffalo, Oklahoma hospital board member has had concerns for over a year about openness issues. In a letter received from this County Commissioner appointed member, she states: "The first dispute I had with the other 8 members of the Board was over posting an agenda and following the regulations set forth in the Open Meeting Act. Although the Attorney General's Open Meeting workshop helped with this, there have been several illegal meetings since."

The current issue is about a request for Hospital pay records. This hospital is funded by a county sales tax. After an article appeared on the front page of a metro newspaper, the Board has agreed to release the records, but has delayed for 2 months. From Sayre - A resident is having trouble obtaining public records after making 3 requests for information in writing. After much persistence, he has received part of the information. He has also documented several special meetings held by the City Council in Sayre which did not have sufficient prior notice and where items were discussed that were not on the agenda. On another occasion requested information from city hall was held for more than a month before it was released.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson has proposed requiring public bodies to tape-record their executive sessions under the state Open Meeting Act. Currently, only written minutes of the executive session must be kept.

In Edmondson's opinion, the tape recording would serve "as a verbatim transcript of the executive session - undeniable proof - to support or refute allegations of open meeting act violations, including discussion of topics not on the agenda or the taking of action." The tape would then be sealed and filed away under Edmondson's proposal, remaining confidential until opened by a court. According to Edmondson, many public bodies already tape record executive sessions. "It is my belief that a tape recorder has a very positive effect on the conduct of executive sessions," he said. "They tend to stay on the subject and tend to be shorter" with a tape recorder present.

The Attorney General's office, in conjunction with FOI Oklahoma, Inc., and the Oklahoma Press Association, visited sixteen cities, teaching more than 1,000 public and elected officials, as well as concerned citizens, about their rights and responsibilities under the state's openness laws. At those presentations, according to Edmondson, without exception his office received more complaints about suspected violations of executive session provisions than any other section of the

Here's some tidbits -- good and bad -- that were picked up at a recent training meeting for Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Sunshine chairs.

Florida state veterinarians, who sell rabies vaccine medicine, began losing the vaccine business to direct marketers who got the names of dogs and addresses from public records. With a straight face, the vets' lobbyist told legislators that dogs had a privacy interest in protecting their addresses from disclosure! More surprising, the legislators bought the argument. You can't get Fidos address anymore in Florida. [From Sandy Chance, asst. director of the Brechner Center, University of Florida.]

Results of a new survey by an open government coalition in California show widespread support for access to information among likely voters. (NFOIC provided the seed money for the survey through a Knight Foundation grant). A majority of likely voters in California (63%) said they agreed that despite California's open meetings laws, city councils and the school boards conduct too much important business in private. 65% said that much of the information forming the basis for state and local government decisions is not easily accessible to the public. Here's one really interesting finding -- Looking at the demographics, the group that supported open government the most were Republican women. 71% of all respondents said they'd advise their local legislator to strengthen freedom of information laws. All this, despite another finding from the study showing that 77% had not seen or heard anything lately in the news about state freedom of information or sunshine laws. [from Dan Weikel and Ray Herndon of the LA Times]

Jennifer LeFleur of the San Jose Mercury News is regularly writing a public records education column on the op-ed page. She says the how-to column is getting a great response.

Here's a follow-up on the Indiana newspapers project on access. In February, seven newspapers did a records audit by sending journalists acting as citizens into every county asking for five specific records. Together they published front page stories and subsequent series chronicling the widespread denial of access. The coverage got a lot of attention. The legislature has been studying the issue. The governor appointed a task force that has just finished a series of hearings around the state and will be discussing legislative proposals next month. The governor has also appointed a Public Access Counselor, a new fulltime ombudsperson. She's fielding calls and going out to educate the public. Her phone log shows that 62% of her calls come from the public, 22% come from public officials, 16% come from media. [from Larry Lough, The Starr Press, Muncie Ind.]

News Sentinel (Knoxville) reporters came across records of how taxpayer money was being spent by defense attorneys for the defense of a serial killer. Intriguingly, the records showed, among other things, that the defense lawyers seemed to be eating a lot of food at the most expensive French restaurant in Knoxville! After interviewing the attorneys about such expenses, the reporters learned that the attorneys had contacted the judge who quickly issued a TRO barring the paper from publishing anything from those records. The News Sentinel violated the order and printed a story the next day along with a sidebar saying the order was a prior restraint and explaining why it was printing the story. The paper is now threatened with contempt and is appealing the order.

The FOI group in Montana is in the midst of a major public education effort.