Legislation to revamp and modernize the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) will be heard by the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee this Thursday, May 9, and could be scheduled for a vote before the full Senate and Assembly on Monday, May 13.
According to press reports, S-2930/A-4045 may also be heard in the Assembly Budget Committee. Both committees are scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 9.
Media reports also indicate that amendments to the bills have been made, responding to concerns from detractors, but a copy of these amendments has not been made publicly available.
It is critical that your Assembly Representatives and Senator hear from you today, especially if they are on either the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee or the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Please let them know you support and welcome open transparent government, but do not support commercial entities exploiting OPRA for financial gain at the expense of taxpayers, your residents losing their privacy because they applied for a license or signed up for a municipal program, or spending taxpayer dollars on a cottage industry created only because of OPRA.
Now is the time to reach out to your Assembly representatives and Senator urging them to vote yes on these commonsense reforms and providing them with examples of how the abuse of OPRA has impacted your municipality.
Contacts: Mike Cerra, Executive Director, mcerra@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x120 and Lori Buckelew, Deputy Executive Director & Director of Government Affairs, lbuckelew@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x112.