Hoboken Mayor Bhalla Slams Murphy For Bill To Weaken Public Records Access, At $10M Cost

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla joined those who are demanding transparency for New Jersey public records, after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a controversial overhaul of New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The bill that would make the changes also appropriates $10 million to do so.

"It is deeply disappointing to hear that the Governor has signed this seriously flawed and anti-democratic OPRA legislation that substantially undermines government transparency," Bhalla said on Wednesday.

He added, "Modernizing OPRA is one thing, but this bill does anything but that — it guts one of the few tools available to members of the public to hold government officials accountable and is just plain wrong."

Murphy gave a thumbs-up to S-2930/A-4045, which recently passed a vote in both chambers of the state Legislature.

It will make changes to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA), which guarantees the public’s right to certain government records, and creates an appeal process for denials.

Learn more about OPRA here.

The bill will also appropriate $10 million to make the changes. Read the governor’s full statement on the new law here.

Some critics of the current process say an overhaul is long overdue, with multiple New Jersey towns citing expensive labor bills related to the requests.

The ACLU of New Jersey argued that the bill will “decimate” the public's ability to access government records and hold elected officials accountable for their actions.

Their concerns didn’t go unnoticed, the governor said.

“I want to acknowledge that I know that this decision will disappoint many members of the advocacy community, including a number of social justice, labor, and environmental organizations, among others,” Murphy wrote. “I have heard the many objections to the bill directly, and I know that they are made in good faith and with good intentions."

Murphy said the revised bill was carved out with “a great deal of discussion and compromise” – despite what some advocates are saying.

“The enactment of OPRA in 2002 was a landmark achievement that should be celebrated,” Murphy wrote. “But like any document meant to apply to a changing society, it must be periodically updated, particularly as technology is rapidly evolving. While I do not believe the concerns raised about some provisions of the bill are irrational, I am persuaded that the safeguards in the bill and the protections provided by the GRC and the courts are sufficient to mitigate them,” he added.

Advocates disagreed.

“This law is bad policy, bad politics, and bad news for anyone who believes that government should work for the people and not for special interests,” New Jersey Policy Perspective lamented after Wednesday's bill signing.

“Public records are how we shine a spotlight on corruption and hold officials accountable when they’re not doing what’s best for their communities,” the nonprofit said. “New Jersey just took a big step forward with our first primary election without ‘the line’ on the ballot, and now the state is taking two even bigger steps backward. This is a dark day for transparency, accountability, and democracy in New Jersey.”