© 2024 KRCU Public Radio
90.9 Cape Girardeau | 88.9-HD Ste. Genevieve | 88.7 Poplar Bluff
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
The latest news from every corner of the state, including policy emerging from Missouri's capitol.

Hawley wants lawmakers to beef up Sunshine Law

 

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley wants the state legislature to adopt a few changes he’s proposing this year to Missouri’s Sunshine Law.First, he wants to set up a transparency division within his office that would have the authority to enforce the Sunshine Law against state agencies.

“That’s walled off from the rest of the attorney general’s office, meaning that folks who work in this office of transparency would never defend an executive agency,” Hawley said. “The legislature would write the law, such that any Sunshine enforcement action could be taken by them and would not create an ethical problem under Missouri law.”

 

The Sunshine Law calls for meetings, records, votes and other actions by governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise specified.

 

Hawley also wants his office to have subpoena power to enforce the Sunshine Law, and wants the authority to enforce the state’s records retention law.“The records retention law has no enforcement provisions in it at all and no penalties for violation,” he said. “That needs to change.”

 

Jean Maneke, counsel to the Missouri Press Association, and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley on Monday discuss changes to the Sunshine Law.
Credit Marshall Griffin | St. Louis Public Radio
Jean Maneke, counsel to the Missouri Press Association, and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley on Monday discuss changes to the Sunshine Law.

No bills carrying his proposals have been filed yet. The proposals have the backing of the Missouri Press Association’s legal counsel JeanManeke.“We are pleased that this conversation has begun — and look forward to supporting progress with regards to keeping Missouri government open and transparent,” she said.

Hawley was the subject of a Sunshine law request to release his University of Missouri emails when he was a candidate for attorney general. He told reporters Monday he released all of them the moment he learned of the request. However, a Post-Dispatch story from 2015 states that Hawley at first resisted releasing them, claiming it would violate his academic freedom as a law professor.

 

Hawley is now seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

 

Follow Marshall on Twitter:@MarshallGReport

 

Copyright 2018 St. Louis Public Radio

St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.