Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary from 2017 to 2019, is pushing to “overhaul the state's expansive public records law” at the same time “a lawsuit pends against the state for allegedly withholding information related to her travel requested under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act [FOIA],” ABC News reports.
As ABC News reports, Arkansas’ FOIA law “is among the most transparent such laws in the nation” — but the changes “would broaden what security details from the governor's travel and other constitutional officers are exempt from the law — and includes a retroactive clause to June. 1, 2022, before Sanders took office.”
Per ABC News:
[The proposed legislation] would also block the release of records "reflecting communications" between the governor's office and her Cabinet secretaries, after a previous version more broadly blocked the release of state agencies' "deliberative process.”
For Little Rock, AR attorney Matt Campbell, who filed the FOIA lawsuit against the state, Sanders’ proposed legislation is an effort to circumvent "the easiest, most straightforward FOIA win ever.”
"I think they realized this lawsuit was something they were going to lose. So they thought, ' We need to try to change the rules now,'" Campbell told ABC News.
Sanders’ effort is prompting FOIA advocates to sound the alarm about potential repercussions as the Arkansas Press Association warns the proposed changes could "eliminate the ability to hold our government accountable by shielding processes that provide essential context for decisions that affect millions of Arkansans.”
Little Rock attorney John Tull III, who sits on the bipartisan Arkansas FOIA Task Force, told ABC News the governor’s proposal “ takes [exemptions] to an entirely different level.”
"I do see a greater effort across the country to try and squelch the transparency that the Freedom of Information Act attempts to accomplish,” Tull added.
Members of Sanders’ own party are also raising concerns about the proposal. In a Facebook post last weekend, Saline County Republicans asked, "Why have so many of our Republican legislators blindly lined up behind this bill, which is contrary to our own party platform?”
" We firmly support transparency and openness at every level of government," the group added in a separate post.
Mars said the notion that disclosing information on “use of the [state police] aircraft” could potentially “create a security risk to the governor” was “absurd.”
"The Freedom of Information Act has always been a key component of what makes Arkansas great, because people are entitled to know what goes on behind closed doors," Mars added.
In a statement, Sanders’ spokesperson dismissed the criticism of the bill as “ misinformation and lies” that are “typical from left wing activists.”
"The governor was the first White House press secretary to need Secret Service protection due to credible threats against her life and some on the left are weaponizing FOIA putting the Governor and her family at risk,” Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning told ABC News.