The League of Women Voters
of New Jersey

a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose purpose is to promote political responsibility
through informed and active participation in government

The League of Women Voters supports A.1309 and asks you to vote it out of committee as amended in the Senate. The League supported the original A.1309 because of the assumption that all records are available to citizens unless specifically exempted. This is a positive change from our current public records law that only opens those records required by law to be kept on file. The amended A.1309 is a compromise to satisfy the attorney general's concerns, those of victims' rights groups and concerns about the release of personal data.

The League is pleased to see reasonable deadlines for providing records to citizens. We also applaud the option of filing a complaint with the Government Records Council for gaining access to a public record when a custodian has denied such access. This is important to citizens who have neither the time nor money to file an action in Superior Court and who generally seek records most reasonable people assume are their right.

Please vote A.1309 as amended in the Senate out of committee so that the citizens of New Jersey can have a new public records access act signed into law in this legislative session.

Presented by
Sandra L. Matsen
President, LWVNJ

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