While the Bush Administration attempts to remain as secretive as it can, refusing to divulge records, often on nebulous "national security" grounds (where there is little or no national security at stake), Governor Bob Holden took a step in the opposite direction on Monday by signing into law an expansion of a Missouri "sunshine law."

A "sunshine law," as its name suggests, provides government accountability by requiring records to be available to the public. "These laws are called sunshine laws because they reflect the American sentiment that opening up government records for public scrutiny -- or in other words, letting in the sunshine -- is a uniquely beneficial endeavor," said Holden.

Most notably (for me, anyway), "the new law makes clear that the University of Missouri's governing Board of Curators — which has lost costly legal fights over its closing of records — is subject to the law, like other public governmental bodies." At Miami University in scenic Oxford, Ohio, our Board of Trustees can be very secretive. Notes that Board members make must be left with the Board's staff secretary. The public is not allowed in on the Board's "executive session," and neither are the two student members of the Board. (Ohio state law requires that university boards of trustees have two student members, appointed by the Governor.)

Missouri's new sunshine law imposes stricter fines on government entities that withhold public information. Under the old law, the fine was $25 for withholding information. Since the fine was so small, "people who have been accused of violating the Sunshine Law have been able to stand behind the excuse that they were ignorant of the law" and pay the fine, said sponsoring Rep. Jack Goodman. No other violater of the law can use that kind of excuse.

The law also imposes a state-wide rate of ten cents per page for photocopying government documents. This prevents governments from inflating the price of copies as a deterrent to getting the documents in the first place.

The new law was drafted after a state auditor's report revealed in 2001 that the existing sunshine law was "inadequate." When requests for documents were submitted, "about 44 percent of the governmental entities surveyed either did not respond, responded untimely or improperly denied a request." The auditor's report is frightening for those of us who value an open government:

Three entities refused to provide the requested records unless the citizen explained why they want the information, which is not required by the Sunshine Law. One agency’s attorney offered this reason to deny: "It will be necessary for you to be more specific as to what you need and for what purpose before we can comply . . ."

This law is the best step in the right direction for government accountability, and both Governor Holden, the Missouri Senate, and the Missouri House (which passed the bill 121-18) should be given medals for their efforts to make government more open and less obscured. The Bush Administration could learn a lesson from Missouri (especially John Ashcroft, who comes from Missouri!).