Major changes coming to Utah’s government records access law

Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday he plans to sign several bills that will bring big changes to Utah’s government records access law.

At the top of the list is legislation that will do away with the State Records Committee, the longstanding seven-member volunteer panel that resolves disputes over whether a record is public or private under the Government Records Access and Management Act or GRAMA.

SB277 will replace the committee with an administrative law judge appointed by the governor to a four-year term.

Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, who sponsored the bill, said during the legislative session that the current records committee process is flawed. He said the panel’s decisions are inconsistent because its members are not trained in the law. He also said state and legislative audits found few cases in recent years were resolved within the 73 days the law requires and last year the average time was 156 days.

Cox said at his monthly PBS Utah news conference that the change is best for Utahns and state government.

“Look, we have about a four- to six-month backlog often when it comes to these issues going before the board. What we’re doing is we’re putting in an administrative law judge, somebody who understands the law and who can rule very quickly on these issues that’s going to help all of you not have to wait for these decisions to get those decisions out more quickly,” the governor said.

“So we’re always trying to make sure we have the right balance in government, and I think these bills do.”

The records committee has been part of GRAMA since the legislature passed it in 1991. Courts have upheld the committee’s rulings 98% of the time, according to the Utah Media Coalition, a consortium of new outlets the seeks to keep government records open.

Black hole award

Veteran journalist and former State Records Committee member Tom Haraldsen said at a legislative committee hearing last month that decisions are better when a group of people share their thoughts.

“I think that the SRC is the last bastion of transparency in this state. It gives an opportunity for every citizen who has a complaint to be heard, to be seen, to voice their concerns, not just simply file paperwork that one person looks at and decides if it’s true or valid,” he said.

The media coalition initially opposed the bill but took a neutral position after lawmakers removed a provision that would have essentially gutted the open records law.

On Friday, the Society of Professional Journalists, one of the nation’s oldest and largest journalism organizations, gave the Legislature its 2025 Black Hole Award for undermining government transparency.

Howard Goldberg, retired Associated Press bureau chief and member of the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee, said in a statement that the records committee with its diverse perspectives was ideally suited to look out for the public interest in free information.

“Replacing that committee with a governor’s appointee can only reduce accountability and undermine public confidence in government,” he said.

SB277 was among several bills aimed at GRAMA.

Access more expensive

Another, HB69, will make the process for appealing the denial of a government record more costly. It prevents someone who successfully gets access to records on appeal from recovering court costs, unless the government showed bad faith. That means they could incur an expense opposing the government even if it’s decided they should have been given the records in the first place.

“The possibility that government would have to pay attorney fees for wrongfully denying a citizen access to public records was a powerful incentive for agencies to comply with the law. HB69 took that away. Now government can deny requests and citizens will have no recourse because going to court is too expensive,” said Jeff Hunt, an attorney who represents the media coalition.