But Cabrera, R-Saipan, said he can’t blame the administration and the Attorney General’s Office if they want to amend the law.
There is a way, he added, to make Open Government Act requests more responsibly and wisely.
Cabrera said people should not abuse “such an important instrument for government transparency for their personal end.”
The Open Government Act, he added, is a good tool for the people so they can be informed about government activities.
Asked if he supports the administration’s proposed amendments, the speaker said: “The law is OK.”
Former Sen. Herman R. Guerrero, in a separate interview, said he supports the idea of amending the Open Government Act.
“I think it should be amended to fine-tune it to make sure that individual privacy is protected,” he said.
Guerrero said he does not want the people to “misuse or overuse” the Open Government Act, especially when “somebody is just angry with another person, they just go after them and use the Open Government Act and I don’t like that.”
The AG’s Office has prepared a draft bill to amend the Open Government Act because it believes certain information needs to be withheld from the public and the government, which is facing a financial crisis, has very limited time to attend to Open Government Act requests.
“In this case, the [AGO] has identified certain issues that appear appropriate for change. We have prepared a draft bill for consideration. It will be up to the Legislature and public comments to determine where the bill goes from here,” Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham told Variety.
Last November, CNMI voters approved an initiative that ended the exemption of the Legislature from the Open Government Act.
