Secrecy series ends with news of possible open-government reforms in Mississippi

We mentioned the beginning of the "Secrecy in Mississippi" series last week, and the collaborative effort of the state's news organizations came to end this weekend after eight days. The series has highlighted the state's shortcomings when it comes to open government and open records, and it seems some improvements could be on way.

The end of the series coincided with the introduction and unanimous passage of an ethics and open-government reform bill in the state Senate this week, reports Bobby Harrison of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, based in Tupelo. "The legislation would allow citizens who believe a government agency violated the open meetings and open records law to ask the Ethics Commission to intervene instead of pursing costly court action," Harrison writes. "Under current law, a person has to file a lawsuit if he believes a public body has improperly closed a meeting. Under the Senate plan, a person would still have the right to sue if he or she was not happy with the Ethics Commission decision." (Read more)

The bill also would increase penalties for abuse of public office and would require officials' sources of income to be made available online in a searchable database. Those provisions are a good start, but more needs to be done to make meetings and records open, writes the editorial board of The Mississippi Press. "Solutions are varied and can even include mediation of alleged open meetings violations as is included in Senate Bill 2983," the newspaper writes. "But, there is no proposal to increase the fine, now $100, for illegally holding a closed meeting. Public officials should be subject to stiffer penalties if they are found to be holding illegal closed meetings and withholding records." In addition, the newspaper said more records should be put online. (Read more)

"I admit that I was suspicious when senators started talking about beefing up the Ethics Commission, but this is really a good bill," writes David Hampton of The Clarion-Ledger. Hampton, newspaper's editorial director, was interviewed by Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and it's available here.

Another legislator, State Rep. Toby Barker, R-Hattiesburg, has introduced "a bill that would create a Web site that would put all contracts, subcontracts and grants from the state online to enable the public to access the information," reports Ben Piper for the Hattiesburg American. Barker said 29 states have similar sites. (Read more)

The Hattiesburg paper also compiled information on how other states handle open government issues, and that report is available here. To see the full series and copies of Mississippi's laws on open records and open meetings, go here.