For Idaho public officials, ignorance is bliss.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the word “knowingly” in Idaho statute means the burden is on prosecutors to prove a public official was aware of the state’s open meeting law before breaking it. And because of that, says Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, it is virtually impossible to impose fines on scofflaws.

Wasden ran into that technicality while investigating a complaint from The Spokesman-Review that the state Board of Education on Dec. 6 improperly excluded the public by calling an executive session to discuss the possibility of canceling the Idaho Standard Achievement Test for ninth-graders.

The board concedes that there was a brief private discussion of the issue. Four days later it announced that the test was being dropped. The fine for first-time offenders of the open meeting law is $150, but it must be proved that the act was deliberate. Good luck with that.

“Did you know you must post a notice 24 hours before holding an executive session?”

“No way! Really?”

“Did you know that specific reasons for holding a closed session must be stated in advance?”

“News to me!”

“OK. Case closed.”

After announcing last year that state law precluded him from pursuing fines, Wasden called for board members to get more training on the open meeting law. But why would they? As long as they can maintain a plausible level of know-nothingness, they cannot be fined. The same goes for any public official. Under current law, education is an invitation to punishment.

This loophole needs to be resolved by the Legislature. Wasden realizes this and called on lawmakers this week to revise the statute to remove “knowingly” from the statute.

There’s no reason lawmakers should be held to a lower standard than motorists. If patrol officers had to prove that drivers were aware of every traffic law, they’d stop pulling people over.

While lawmakers are tweaking the law, they ought to also look at that fine – $150 is feeble deterrent. Raise the fine, or find some other way to punish violators.

Those changes will demonstrate that lawmakers take seriously their own law on open government.