Sen. Thom Goolsby is a primary sponsor of a bill to make violating the state's sunshine laws a criminal offenseRALEIGH, NC (WECT) – Sen. Thom Goolsby and others in the
state Senate are taking aim on public officials who they say violate the state's
public records and open meetings laws.
Goolsby (R-New Hanover) and Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Buncombe)
are the primary sponsors of a bill filed Thursday morning called the "Public
Meetings/Records Law Violations" bill, the first of three "sunshine laws"
Goolsby plans to file during this session of the General Assembly. The "sunshine laws" cover access to open
meetings and public records in North Carolina.
SB125 would make violations of public records and open
meetings laws a criminal offense. In a video posted on YouTube, Goolsby says "The
government official, bureaucrat or whoever it is that does not you (the public)
into the (open) meeting, or denies you the (public) record, can be charged with
a Class 3 misdemeanor."
"Who is against this?" Goolsby asks in the video. "I
guess people who like doing things and not having you, the public, know what
they are doing with your money, on your time, in your house."
The bill has not gone through its first reading in the
Senate. It will then be assigned to committee and debated before possibly
coming in front of the full Senate for a vote.
Click here to read the bill.
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