Video: House Committee Passes Policy To Restrict Public Access To Documents

By Tommy Lopez

JACKSON, Miss. (WCBI) – A state legislative committee has passed a policy restricting the public’s access to contracts the state has entered into.

The House Management Committee, which approves contracts involving the House of Representatives, voted Tuesday to adopt a new policy. We’ll get into the specifics of the policy as well as what gave the members the authority to pass it later in this article.

Mississippi Today’s Kate Royals first broke the news of the policy Tuesday morning. Mississippi Today had filed a public records request for the state’s contract with EdBuild, the group Mississippi is paying to rewrite the state’s education-funding formula. The state is paying the New Jersey-based nonprofit group $250,000 to potentially replace the current formula called the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, or MAEP. The legislature passed that measure in 1997. It dictates how much money public schools receive from the state.

A clause in the Mississippi Public Records Act, passed in 1983, gives the legislature the authority to deny access. It says, in part, “nothing in this chapter shall be construed as denying the Legislature the right… to regulate public access to its records.”

The Act states that the legislature can deny access if documents contain confidential information. Tuesday’s policy re-categorizes committee contracts as confidential.

Below is Tuesday’s House policy WCBI obtained:

“All contracts entered into by the House Management Committee shall be confidential and shall not be released to any person or entity, except as specifically directed by the House Management Committee only when the committee deems necessary for the execution of the contract. Any House member may read and/or review a contract of the House Management Committee upon request to the House Management Committee, but the contents of the contract shall remain confidential and the House member shall not copy, duplicate or photograph the contract in any manner.”

Mississippi Today reported that the Senate Rules Committee will vote on the same policy at its meeting on Nov. 23.

Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, commented to Mississippi Today about the policy.

“I think it’s unfair, I really do,” Hines said.

Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, represents District 12, which includes Lafayette County. He posted this to social media Tuesday:

“TRANSPARENCY – MS Style – Do as I say – Not as I do,” a tweet said, referring to hypocrisy in the legislature.

Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that the public will have a chance to make comments on the state’s school-funding formula Thursday at the Capitol. Members of EdBuild will be in attendance for the 4 p.m. meeting. Comments must be limited to three minutes, according to the news release.