GRAMA

KAYSVILLE -- The city wants to be more transparent, so to accomplish that goal, City Recorder Linda Ross helped launch a "Government Transparency" tagline on the city's website Friday.

OGDEN -- Moving vans pulled up to Ogden schools to cart away office contents of top administrators who had introduced themselves to students just weeks earlier at start-of-school assemblies.

New Ogden School District Superintendent Brad C. Smith on Monday sent out a memo outlining the immediate reassignment of three principals, three assistant principals, a coordinator and an instructional coach.

The changes involve all of the district's mainstream high schools and all of its junior high schools, as well as one undisclosed elementary school.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A working group appointed by Utah lawmakers says the state's open records law doesn't need an overhaul, but was far from consensus on several issues of public access.

The kerfuffle over HB477 and the state's GRAMA law left such a sour taste in my mouth that I called up an old friend to talk it through.

Sen. Pete Knudson and I go way back. He was mayor of Brigham City when I was hired by the Standard-Examiner. Our favorite memory together is when he threw me out of his office.

SALT LAKE CITY - The ACLU of Utah announced today that it will voluntarily withdraw its petition seeking emergency relief from the Utah Supreme Court in connection with the HB 477 referendum.

Amidst a storm of controversy over HB 477 -- the notorious "anti-GRAMA" bill -- the legislature voted last Friday, March 25, to repeal HB 477.

Leaders of the movement behind Save GRAMA, a citizen referendum drive to defeat HB477, are very pleased with today's repeal of HB477 by the Utah legislature.

Scott Jenkins, Peter Knudson and Stuart Adams don't get it.

Neither do Stuart Reid, Allen Christensen nor Jerry Stevenson.

These are some of the state senators representing the Top of Utah who still insist House Bill 477, which guts Utah's Government Records Access Management Act, better known as GRAMA, shouldn't be repealed.

Basically, HB477 allows them to keep secret text messages and e-mails they send to and receive from lobbyists, contract bidders and their legislative cohorts so you don't know what's behind their governance.