Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said the administration has never communicated with any member of the House leadership to expedite action on House Bill 17-67 which proposes to “reduce the burden” of responding to Open Government Act inquiries.
Rep. Ralph S. Demapan, the bill’s author and the chairman of the House Committee on Judicial and Government Operation, said he will hold public hearings first before his panel will make a recommendation.
He said he was surprised and disappointed to see it on the bill calendar last week.
Representative Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, said apparently, somebody was trying to rush the passage of the bill which will allow government entities to provide only “identifiable” records, the description of which “must enable the relevant government employee to locate the requested records with reasonable effort.”
The bill will also reduce the posting requirement of meeting notices from 72 to 24 hours and impose additional copy charges on those requesting for public documents.
The press secretary said it’s up to the House when to act on the bill.
