Law Professor Robert Steinbuch joins Conduit News for an in-depth discussion on the various pieces of legislation that would amend our Freedom of Information Act.
Steinbuch, who is also a member of the FOIA Task Force, shares his thoughts on the Arkansas ACCESS Act — the Governor’s key piece of legislation reforming higher ed — Steinbuch raises concerns about the language regarding tenured professors.
In this interview:
01:20 — Senate Bill 227 by Sen. C. Tucker — a FOIA bill that would tighten up the language regarding public meetings for elected officials
05:54 — Senate Bill 376 by Sen. A. Clark; Steinbuch addresses concerns about this bill — which is also another FOIA bill — this one says two public officials can talk, but no more than three, then that’s a meeting.
10:35 Did Sen. Clark sneak SB376 through committee for passage? Steinbuch says hardly.
15:36 — Will an amendment be made to SB376 to address the “daisy chain”?
17:72 — What happens if SB227 and SB376 are passed into law? Aren’t they on opposite ends of the spectrum?
19:20 — Steinbuch and GL talk about the Conduit Scorecard. How do we determine what bills to track? It’s all about economic freedom.
24:17 — HB1621 by Rep. Wardlaw: FOIA Exemption to Shield Politicians from the Public A terrible bill that essentially provides an exemption from FOIA for politicians and government workers.
25:46 — HB1492 by Rep. Gramlich: New Devices for All School Employees — Another FOIA bill. It would require a panic alert device for every individual employed by a government school. The device would send alerts to law enforcement and send a lockdown notification. However, all records related to the use of the devices would be exempt from the freedom of information law.
27:33 — SB248 by Sen. C. Tucker. Consensus bill from the AG’s working group.
30:55 — SJR1 by Sen. B. King: Constitutional Amendment to Require 3/4th Vote to Change the Freedom of Information Law A good proposed amendment that mimics the previous FOIA proposal.
33:04 — The Arkansas ACCESS Act HB1512/SB246 — Higher Ed reform. Overall, a good bill that seeks to strip out the indoctrination in higher education.
35:29 — However, the ACCESS Act gives power to higher ed administrators to fire people for unprofessional conduct — but what that conduct is, is undefined. Steinbuch says this is dangerous and would adversely affect conservative tenured professors the most.
