State asks that media lawsuit on meetings be tossed

Wed., July 21, 2004

Dan Gallagher Associated Press

BOISE – State attorneys asked a judge on Tuesday to dismiss an Idaho Press Club lawsuit seeking to bar the state from closing any formal legislative committee meetings to the public.

Media lawyers countered by asking 4th District Judge Kathryn Sticklen to allow for research on how the committee hearings relate to House and Senate decisions.

“This is new ground we’re trodding here,” media attorney Deb Kristensen said. “There is no way the House can act without the committees gathering facts.”

The lawsuit was filed by the Press Club with the backing of media outlets around the state and The Associated Press. Both sides have predicted the issue would ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was filed in May in response to seven instances in the preceding 18 months in which House and Senate committees barred the media and general public from official meetings. Two of those involved briefings on water rights negotiations that had been subjected to a gag order by the district court.

The state Constitution requires that “the business of each house, and of the committee of the whole, shall be transacted openly and not in secret session.” The lawsuit claims secret — or executive — sessions are prohibited.

But another provision in the same article gives the House and Senate the power to “determine its own rules of proceeding.”

Legislative leaders say they have done their best to ensure that everything but matters requiring confidentiality or security or legal grounds are handled in the open.

Senate Republican Floor Leader Bart Davis said the open-meetings requirements cover only the floor sessions of the full House and Senate, while the Legislature can decide how its committees operate, including whether the gatherings are closed to the press and public.

The state asked Sticklen to dismiss the suit.

“The committees make no law,” Deputy Attorney General James Carlson said. “This doesn’t apply to them. The framers of the constitution knew committees don’t make law.”

Kristensen rejected the state’s claims that the committee operations do not do the Press Club harm. She said the court must investigate the relationship between the full chambers and their committees.

“They cover the Legislature,” she said. “We concede that the Legislature can write its rules, but if they violate the constitution, the court should let them know.”

Sticklen took the arguments under advisement.

Online

Article III, Idaho Constitution: www3.state.id.us/idstat/const/icA03TOC.html

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