Op-Ed: Maine’s ‘Sunshine’ Law Has Lost Its Power to Illuminate
The way Maine’s Freedom of Access Act works is simple: A citizen submits a records request to a government entity. That entity is required to respond and acknowledge receipt of the request within five days. Then that entity searches for and reviews the requested materials (if they exist) and provides the requestor a time and cost estimate to fulfill the request. Once the bill is paid, the documents are turned over to the requestor.
Simple as the process should be, Maine’s FOAA law is broken. It empowers the government to sit on state secrets – not citizens to uncover them – and is in desperate need of immediate reform.