Masterson Says, "Get Involved with the FOIA Petitions Today!"

Mike Masterson’s Appeal to the Public!

Mike Masterson has written for us a very compelling opinion in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. In fact, he said, “This is likely the most significant column I’ll ever offer in the public interest.”

We believe that he is describing how important the FOIA petitions are to this generation and the generations to come, so we must grasp this opportunity while it’s offered because it will probably not come our way in this lifetime again. Readers, our very important FOIA will be dismantled quickly if we, the people, do not step up and get behind the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petitions.

Read here: OPINION | MIKE MASTERSON: Get involved  

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Then, please consider attending these crackerjack events in May & June to get some signatures. We are so blessed to live in the Natural State, so please hurry, as time is running out!

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We need to keep our right to be able to access our government meetings, records, and notices!  That includes knowing where our tax dollars are going, and it’s important for us to support these FOIA petitions.

Maybe you haven’t needed to use FOIA in the past… but there just might come a time when you DO need to request information from:

• agencies

• county government

• municipal government

• state government

• public schools

Mike continued in his opinion piece,

“If you have yet to sign the circulating petitions that will place the Freedom of Information Act constitutional amendment and its companion initiated act on November’s ballot, I suggest making that effort this week since the deadline for submitting these signatures is fast approaching.

Thus far, according to Fort Smith bulldog Attorney Joey McCutchen, who spends considerable amounts of his time and efforts defending our FOIA in courtrooms statewide, we aren’t receiving the best results. Ensuring FOIA makes it to the ballot will only benefit us and those who come after us in making certain our government operates transparently.”

There are only two months left to circulate these ballot measure FOIA petitions if we plan to keep an open and transparent Arkansas government. They must all be turned in to the Secretary of State by July 5, 2024. Time to get this done is quickly slipping away…

Mike also said, 

“Tons of questions, thoughts, and concerns run through my cluttered mind about whether the people can get more than 90,000 signatures to enshrine our right to transparency in our state constitution and north of 72,000 signatures for the people’s initiated act which will make Arkansas’ sunshine law the strongest in the county, bar none.”

Yes, these ballot measures will require a LOT of signatures!

Both petitions are solid as a rock! The FOIA Amendment and the FOIA Act are pure, blameless, and without corruption. These petitions have not been mixed with words that could hurt the public in any way whatsoever! There is nothing added that shouldn’t be there, dear readers.

Let’s stand up for transparency because transparency defeats corruption!

What do The Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment   
and Act of 2024 actually do?

 The Constitutional Amendment:

• Establishes the right of the citizens of Arkansas to government transparency.

• Enshrines in the Arkansas State Constitution the definition of “government transparency” as the government’s obligation to share information with citizens or deliver information to citizens.

• Restricts the circumstances under which the General Assembly may make a law concerning government transparency.

• • The General Assembly may only propose a law concerning government transparency by referring a bill adopted by a two-thirds majority vote of both the House and the Senate to be determined by the citizens at the next general election.

• Confirms that the state may be sued for failure to comply with transparency law.

Click here to read the entire Constitutional Amendment.

The Initiated Act:

• Repeals Arkansas Code § 6-13-619(e), as amended by Act 883 of 2023, concerning the ability of a school board, superintendent, and attorney to meet secretly.

• Defines the terms “cybersecurity”, “government transparency”, “minority party”, and “public notice.”

• Exempts from FOIA any portion of a personnel record and any portion of a public record which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of a person either living or deceased, or if the disclosure of the record is not related to the performance of the public official, or if the information is of a personal nature the privacy of which outweighs the public’s interest in disclosure.

• Amends Arkansas Code § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B)(i) to include electronic mail (email) as a means of contact for notification if public records are exempt from disclosure.

• Establishes the deadline for access to public records as the end of the third working day following the date the request is received by the custodian of the records, and the process for ensuring compliance with FOIA if that three-day deadline cannot reasonably be met.

• Requires a public meeting to be conducted in a manner that allows the public to attend and hear the governing body’s meaningful discussion and deliberation of official business.

• Requires notice of regular meetings to be published online and provided to anyone requesting notice at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, and notification of special meetings be provided and published online at least two hours prior to the special meeting.

• Amends Arkansas Code § 25-19-106 to include a definition of “public meeting.”

• • A “public meeting” includes without limitation communication between two or more voting or non-voting members of a governing body for the purpose of exercising a responsibility, authority, power or duty of the governing body on any matter on which o cial action will foreseeably be taken, and a series of two or more formal or information communications made between an agent, employee or person who is paid by funds subject to the control of the governing body and one or more members of the governing body, used to poll the votes of the members of the body or solicit support or opposition from the members of the body and concerning any matter on which official action will foreseeably be taken.

• • Two or more employees of a governing body may communicate for the purpose of exercising a responsibility, authority, power or duty of an employee without notice and an open meeting under this section.

• Addresses expenses and penalties available in an appeal from a denial of rights guaranteed under FOIA

• Establishes conditions for disclosure of a public record related to security.

• Clarifies and strengthens disclosure policies for records related to security of government officials.

• Establishes the Arkansas Government Transparency Commission and outlines its membership, role, and powers.

• • The Arkansas Government Transparency Commission is created on or after July 1, 2025, and will consist of five members: one each appointed by the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the minority leader of the Senate, the minority leader of the House of Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Arkansas.

  • The role of the commission is to assist Arkansas citizens in accessing public records and public meetings, and enforcing government compliance with the law concerning a citizen’s rights to government transparency.

Click here to read the entire Initiated Act.

Yes, there NEEDS to be a commission, and there needs to be a penalty for those who willfully violate the rights protected by the amendment. We cannot afford to have the government run over the top of us regarding this matter.

And if you would like to see an example of troubled Freedom of Information laws in another state, take a look at Maine. Their Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) is a nightmare! So, when we are telling you that things could go south in Arkansas rather quickly regarding our own Freedom of Information, we mean it!

Sometimes it’s hard to build trust, but becoming transparent is the best way to build trust and keep it, especially in government. Remember, trust is earned, and whenever there are legitimate concerns about what’s happening in an untrustworthy, shady government — like we are experiencing now, transparency is the remedy. We all know that the opposite of transparency is secrecy, hiding, and stonewalling, which only serves to erode trust.

Keeping things open to the public to access meetings and records is beneficial to everyone.

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Arkansas’ FOIA laws are also known as Sunshine Laws, and they will let the sun shine in government for many years to come, IF we can gather enough signatures to get the FOIA petitions on the ballot this November and enough people vote YES in support.

It’s up to us to change the direction this country and state are going. That means getting involved with the change. Changing the direction we are going means to repent, dear readers, or our FOIA will be destroyed, so something must be done.

Community engagement and support is crucial in determining whether our state government stays transparent or grows darker.

Consider these things below because we truly NEED your help and public involvement to qualify for the ballot this fall:

*Are you circulating the FOIA petitions?

*Are people in your county, city, or town actively engaged in circulating the FOIA petitions?

*If you are a retail business owner with a store building, can you make the petitions available to the public to come in and sign?

Many newspaper offices across the state are serving as petition hubs for the FOIA petitions. You can pick up petitions at any of these locations.

Once petitions are full of signatures and notarized, they should be returned to the location where they were picked up.

Click here for the petition hub locations by county.

To learn more, you can contact:

Joey McCutchen

479-806-4878

Secure Arkansas is also here for you, too:

Call us at 501-250-6474  

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Secure Arkansas
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