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Update 10/31/05

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Update 10/31/05

 

Senate Bill 1873, designed to foster bioterrorism research, is more toxic to open government than any piece of legislation filed in some time. It creates an independent bioterrorism agency that would be totally exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Not just the agency’s records or its meetings but the agency itself would have a statutory exemption empowering it with a secrecy that extends well beyond that granted under classification. It gets scarier, if that’s possible. The same broad exemption frees the agency from normal government cost or accounting standards. Another authorizes the agency to offer government incentives to pharmaceutical companies. There would be no public record. The agency could also grant those companies “no liability” status for their research and testing. Again, with no records or accountability.

 

The bill is on a fast track, thanks to its co-sponsorship by Senate President Bill Frist. It was introduced Oct. 17 and marked up and approved in committee the next day.

Kevin Goldberg, counsel for ASNE, has prepared the attached letter which CJOG plans to send members of the Senate. We haven’t refined the list yet but because time may be short, we wanted to get the letter out for your review and endorsement as quickly as possible.

 

Let me know as quickly as possible if you’d like to sign on with other CJOG members. We’re hoping to get this out by mid-week.

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If you’ve got Dec. 5-6 open on your calendars, you might want to consider a conference here in Washington on "Confidentiality in the Courts and Media – The Gathering Storm.” It’s co-sponsored by Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media,The First Amendment Center, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the The National Judicial College. Gary A. Hengstler, director of the Reynolds Center, wants to make sure there is media participation to balance an expected strong judicial turnout. I’ve attached a registration form and a tentative program. Gary can be reached at hengstler@judges.org or at (775) 327-8270.

Pete Weitzel