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Dennis Byrd, FOIArkansas project

Dennis Byrd

Some issues are too complicated or controversial to be decided in the three-or-so months the Arkansas General Assembly meets every two years.

Three avenues are available for lawmakers to deal with difficult situations:

--Drop the issue and try again in two years.

--Send it to "interim study" by a legislative committee or subcommittee, a process that involves gathering information, holding hearings, and settling differences, if possible.

--Establish a commission to study the issue and make recommendations to the legislature for the next regular session.

Option three was the way the Electronic Records Study Commission came into existence. And, in the way of disclosure, yours truly is one of the 13 members of that panel. The commission is charged with making legislative recommendations for changes, if needed, in the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

The 1967 FOI Act does not specifically address public records stored on computer, although such records clearly are subject to the law.

The commission has spent the past several meetings listening to government employees discuss their individual situations -- how records are kept in their offices, how FOI requests are handled, and problems, if any, associated with electronic records vs. standard paper records.

Although the commission has not heard from the office of state Land Commissioner, the way it settled a recent dispute may hold part of the answer for the future. It should be said here that it is far too early in the process to settle on any specific recommendations and anything written in this space is likely to have little, if any, impact on what the full commission decides to recommend.

A recent news report was based on one man's attempt to get land records from the land commissioner's office for commercial purposes. He believed the office was purposely withholding the information, or, at the very least, not fully cooperating.

An official said the voluminous records received from county offices must first be keyed into computers, which takes time. In addition, she said such requests sometimes require special computer programming. There is no provision in the FOI Act to address such disputes, short of litigation. The attorney general's office advised the office to comply with requests that require special programming, even though the law does not require it.

In the end, the office provided the requested information, but also took the next logical step of providing the information on the Internet for anyone who wanted to go to the trouble of accessing it. The same individual who said he was thwarted in his attempt to get the records initially now says the information offered on the Internet puts Arkansas far ahead of other states in which he seeks similar documents.

That's a simple explanation to a complex problem. There likely will be other disputes related to the timeliness of the land commissioner's office posting the information to the Web site, among other things. Most people would have to agree, however, that making information available on the Internet is a great first step.

It also can be costly, especially on the front end. Many public offices do not have the hardware, the software, nor the expertise to make information available on the Internet. And, as anyone who owns a home computer can tell you, the initial investment is just the beginning. Changes in technology will mean upgrading of equipment with some regularity and, in many cases, adding the salary of a technician to keep equipment operating efficiently.

On the positive side, there are several basic formats and programs that can be used to download or print almost any document from the Internet, especially if they are posted in a database.

The land commissioner's office was nowhere close to being first to make the bold move of putting public information on Web sites. That becomes more commonplace daily. It is staggering the amount of information already available.

The Internet seems to be a logical way to access electronic public information. And, making it available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, would help maintain the integrity of the FOI Act.

For non-cyber-connected Arkansans, not to worry. The availability of records on the Internet should never replace access to records in public offices. It should only augment it.

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Dennis A. Byrd is bureau chief for Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is dbyrd@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699.