Archives for 2008

BOISE – The “Open Idaho” project is the winner of the 1st Amendment Award from the Idaho Press Club, announced on Saturday at the club’s annual awards banquet in Boise.

It was the latest honor for the project, which includes a DVD and website educating Idahoans about the state’s open meetings and public records laws, providing links and tips, presenting fun sketches to illustrate what the laws do and don’t allow, and providing lesson plans for Idaho high school teachers. The full title of the project is, “Open Idaho, A User’s Guide to Idaho’s Open Meeting and Records Laws.”

Earlier, the project was nominated for a regional Emmy Award, and also received a “Gold” award in the legal category at Worldfest, the Houston International Film and Video Festival.

The Idaho Press Club’s 1st Amendment Award honored IDOG, Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, and “Fool Squad” actors Joe Golden and Tom Willmorth for their work on the project, which included a live call-in “Dialogue” show on Idaho Public Television in which host Joan Cartan-Hansen, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and IDOG President Betsy Russell took calls from the public about Idaho’s open meetings and public records laws.

The “Open Idaho” project was funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

The entire content of the “Open Idaho” project is available online for free, at www.openidaho.org.

From the Idaho Statesman

Two years after he left office, the ex-governor still hasn’t sent his files to Idaho’s archives, as state law requires.

Former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s records haven’t been sent to the state’s archives.

BY HEATH DRUZIN – hdruzin@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 05/06/08

Two years ago, the Idaho Attorney General’s office told Dirk Kempthorne to give his gubernatorial records to the Idaho State Historical Society – like every governor before him.

Kempthorne never complied.

Unbeknownst to the Historical Society, the dozens of boxes of documents from Kempthorne’s 7 years in office were locked away in the Department of Administration – access to the public given only with Kempthorne’s approval.

“They should be here,” said Linda Morton-Keithley, the administrator of public archives and research library at the State Historical Society.

LOST IN TRANSITION?

Kempthorne left office in May 2006 before the end of his second term, when President George W. Bush tapped him to become secretary of the Interior.

The quick transition to Washington, D.C., and Kempthorne’s busy schedule has made it difficult to properly vet the documents and cede control to the state, according to Kempthorne’s lawyer Michael Bogert, who called after the Statesman requested to speak to Kempthorne. Bogert, who also represented then-Gov. Kempthorne, said Kempthorne has given the state “jurisdiction” over the documents but admitted that any public records request has to be approved by the former governor.

“Once the governor leaves office, as with any governor, there are documents that might meet exemptions (from the public records law),” he said.

Bogert added that he has received no public records requests for Kempthorne’s gubernatorial papers.

That could be because the scholars and historians who normally ask for such records don’t know where to look.

Morton-Keithley said the society has received numerous requests to view the records since Kempthorne left office. They’ve had to turn every one down because they didn’t have the documents and thought Kempthorne was still holding onto them.

Bogert said the Historical Society has not requested Kempthorne’s papers, though Bogert was part of a public spat with the society over ownership of the records in 2006, which spilled onto newspaper pages.

Morton-Keithley said the society has requested the records.

A BROAD AUDIENCE

By law, the Historical Society oversees records generated during a governor’s term of office and those are considered state property. The society does loan them to institutions, such as Boise State University and the University of Idaho. If you want Kempthorne’s records, though, you have to ask his permission.

The records of every other Idaho governor are available to the public and are used by academics, lawyers, reporters and curious citizens, Morton-Keithley said.

“We have a pretty broad audience,” she said.

Idaho statute empowers the State Historical Society to “require that any state, county, or city, or any public official, deposit official books, records, documents, or original papers, not in current use, which are of definite historical importance, in the society for preservation…”

The Attorney General’s Office agrees.

Documents from a governor’s time in office, with a few exceptions, are public record and should go to the Historical Society, said Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen.

“We made it clear … that they had to go to the Historical Society,” he said.

TWO YEARS OF LIMBO

The brief fight over Kempthorne’s records started in spring 2006.

It was then that Kempthorne tried to give his gubernatorial records directly to the University of Idaho and have them sealed for 25 years. He backed off when the Idaho Attorney General’s Office told him such a move would be illegal. He has sealed the records from his one term in the U.S. Senate for 25 years, as allowed by federal law.

After the Attorney General’s opinion, however, Kempthorne’s lawyer said the records would be turned over to the state.

The Historical Society must make a formal request for the Attorney General’s Office to sue to recover the records, von Tagen said. There does not appear to be a deadline in statute for turning over gubernatorial documents.

The Historical Society has no plans to sue for the documents at the moment, said Executive Director Janet Gallimore, although she expressed surprise when told by a Statesman reporter that the records were held by the Department of Administration. Gallimore said she plans to talk to Department of Administration officials.

“I don’t know how that would have happened without us knowing about it,” she said.

ACCESS DENIED

Housing records at a university is no problem, given that the Historical Society retains ownership and public access is preserved, Morton-Keithley said.

“The issue isn’t as much where they go … as it is that we know where they are,” she said.

Right now any member of the public can view any gubernatorial record, except those exempted by state statute from the public records law, Morton-Keithley. No former governor, save Kempthorne, has any say over access, she said.

The University of Idaho has not heard from Kempthorne’s camp since shortly after he left office, said Lynn Baird, the university’s dean of library services. Baird said the university is still interested in adding Kempthorne’s records to their collection, which includes the records of Govs. C.A. Bottolfsen, Chase Clark., and Ben Ross. It also has Kempthorne’s Senate records.

“We would be delighted to have them,” she said.

Kempthorne’s actions are in stark contrast to his replacement, former Gov. Jim Risch, who turned the documents over nearly immediately after leaving office, said Morton-Keithley.

Risch, who is now lieutenant governor, said he had no issue with turning over the records from his seven months in office.

“I think transparency in government is critical,” he said. “No. 1, if you don’t have transparency, everyone assumes you’re trying to cover something up. … On top of it, people need to know what their government is doing.”

Heath Druzin: 373-6617

From the Idaho Statesman

From the Spokesman-Review

Click here to read the brief.

By Jim Camden
Staff writer
May 3, 2008

The public should be able to know results of the psychological exam that will help decide whether admitted murderer Joseph Duncan is competent to act as his own attorney in his sentencing hearing, lawyers for Idaho and Washington news organizations said Friday.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge should also unseal several documents that discuss why testimony from one of Duncan’s victims, Shasta Groene, should be heard in a closed courtroom, a motion filed in federal court in Boise said.

The Spokesman-Review, the Associated Press, and other newspapers and television stations are challenging an effort to exclude the public from Duncan’s sentencing hearing if Shasta Groene takes the stand or the jury is shown a video taken of the torture and murder of her 9-year-old brother, Dylan. Duncan faces life in prison or the death penalty for the 2005 kidnapping of the two children, whom he repeatedly molested, and slaying of Dylan.

“The decision whether to close courtrooms to the public and seal court documents from public view has serious constitutional implications,” attorneys for the news organizations argue in the motion. Letting the public see records that the prosecution or other parties use to argue in favor of closure would show people how the process works, they add.

Duane Swinton, an attorney for the news organizations, said more than a third of the 414 documents in the case have been sealed from public view. In some cases, the file merely says “sealed document” and doesn’t say what the document is.

Jury selection for the hearing is on hold until Lodge decides whether to grant Duncan’s request to serve as his own attorney. As part of that decision, the judge ordered a Boise psychologist to examine Duncan and report whether he is competent to represent himself. Lodge’s order for the exam indicates it will be kept from the public once it is filed.

A federal court in Ohio refused to seal a similar report in a death penalty case, the motion argues. In that case, a judge ruled there were “notable benefits to be gained from public access to reports” but no persuasive argument it would hurt the process.

Duncan’s competency report will be a key consideration in deciding whether he can act as his own lawyer, the motion argues.

Shasta’s father, Steven Groene, is objecting to the news organizations’ request to keep the hearing open, and he filed an affidavit to support his views. It was filed under seal with the court, so the public can’t see it even though the news organizations’ attorneys already have.

If the court is concerned about records that publicly identify Shasta or Dylan Groene, it could redact their names, the motion says. But the names are widely known, it adds.

Other documents, filed by the prosecution and Shasta’s guardian ad litem, apparently support closing the courtroom. They were filed under seal, the motion says.

“And, of course, responding to these documents as to arguments contained therein why the courtroom should be closed is an impossibility since the documents are sealed,” it adds.

Prosecution and defense attorneys are under a judge’s gag order that prohibits them from discussing the case.

From the Spokesman-Review

From the Spokesman-Review

By Bill Morlin
Staff writer
April 30, 2008

The U.S. Attorney for Idaho says the courtroom should be closed to the public during any testimony from Shasta Groene at the death penalty proceedings for confessed killer Joseph Duncan.

The public also should be prevented from being in the courtroom while the jury is shown a graphic videotape Duncan made three years ago inside a remote cabin on the Idaho-Montana border as he tortured and ultimately killed her brother, Dylan Groene, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a legal brief filed Tuesday.

Government prosecutors said although “harm may occur” to Shasta Groene if she takes the witness stand, “being forced to testify knowing that the whole world is watching and scrutinizing her every word and movement is likely to be even more psychologically damaging.”

The government document was filed in response to an earlier legal memorandum filed this month by 16 media and open-government organizations. They argued to U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge, who is presiding over the death-penalty phase in Boise, that the public has a constitutional right to observe all matters occurring in a courtroom.

“The United States moves to exclude, temporarily, the press and the public from the courtroom if S.G. testifies, and asks the court to consider closing the courtroom when the jury views the cabin video as well,” said the government brief filed by U.S. Attorney Thomas Moss and Assistant U.S. Attorney Syrena Hargrove.

Society has a “strong interest in protecting young victims of violent crime from further psychological harm,” matched against an equally “strong interest in ensuring the accuracy and completeness of testimony,” the 10-page legal brief said.

In court documents, the government refers to the Groene children by their initials only, even though their identities have been public since May 2005 when they were kidnapped from the North Idaho home where three murders occurred.

Shasta Groene and her father, Steve Groene, also have appeared on national television shows.

Spokane attorney Duane Swinton, representing The Spokesman-Review and others, said the media and open-government organizations are only asking to see and hear what the jury will see and hear in determining if Duncan should live or die.

“The media has suggested a reasonable alternative to Shasta testifying in an open courtroom and that is having her testify by closed circuit television where she would be in another room,” Swinton said.

Closing the courtroom will not accomplish what the government requests, he said, because the kidnap victim still must testify before the jury, attorneys, Duncan, the judge and a variety of court personnel.

Swinton said he also was disappointed to learn from the newly filed Justice Department’s brief that there apparently have been a variety of documents secretly filed with the court going back to July of last year.

These government documents, he said, contain legal arguments and factual material to the court urging closing part of the upcoming trial, “and yet this discussion has been going without any public notice or input until the recent briefing we filed.”

From the Spokesman-Review

From the Lewiston Tribune

Idaho attorney general in town
By David Cole
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said the Legislature needs to act during its next session to address ambiguities in the state’s open meeting law that can make enforcement difficult.

“We need to have a serious discussion with the interested parties,” Wasden said Monday at the Lewiston Tribune. Members of the media need to contribute to the discussion, he said, along with those governed by the law.

“We believe that legislation is necessary to resolve some of these issues,” said Wasden, who enforces Idaho’s open meeting law for state government. His office also handles cases from local government referred to it by county prosecutors.

The attorney general said in February, his office’s investigation into an open meeting law complaint against the State Board of Education revealed it may have committed a “non-knowing violation.” But because the investigation didn’t find a “knowing violation,” no fine was imposed under the law.

That investigation highlighted how difficult enforcement can be, especially when proving a violation has occurred is not enough. It must be taken a step further, proving those violating the law were aware – at the time of the violation – it was wrong.

“Without some clarification from the Legislature the law is virtually unenforceable,” Wasden’s spokesman Bob Cooper said. “You have to prove knowingness. It’s an almost impossible burden for a prosecutor to prove.”

During his meeting at the Tribune, Wasden said he supports plans for a University of Idaho Law School branch campus in Boise. Wasden is a 1985 graduate of the law school in Moscow.

Major law firms are in Boise, along with internship opportunities. There is also a concentration of government.

“It’s really market-driven,” Wasden said. “There’s a demand in Boise. If you don’t recognize that you’re going to get run over.”

Also, Wasden, as the National Association of Attorneys General president, said he will host an energy issues conference May 5-7 in Coeur d’Alene.

Attorneys general across the country must be ready to provide advice on energy issues to governors, legislators and state agencies, Wasden said. He plans to bring representatives of industry, government and science together for the meeting.

It is intended to provide a forum to address every part of the energy field, including reliability, resource use, emissions, sustainability and environmental impact.

“We need to have a discussion of the reality, instead of the rhetoric,” Wasden said.

—
Cole may be contacted at dcole@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2278.

From the Lewiston Tribune

From the Times-News

AG’s looks into possible open meeting violations

By Sven Berg
Staff writer

BURLEY – The Idaho Attorney General’s office is investigating claims Cassia County commissioners in November 2006 broke state laws governing public meetings when they voted to change address coordinates in the Jackson area to fit Cassia County’s grid.

County Attorney Al Barrus said Deputy Attorney General Karin Jones interviewed commissioners Paul Christensen, Dennis Crane and Clay Handy separately by phone Monday morning in response to allegations raised by Jackson residents. A spokeswoman for the attorney general said the Jackson allegations are being investigated, but declined to comment further.

Jackson resident Stan Buckley also declined to comment Monday on details of the case, except to confirm Jackson residents had submitted paperwork to the attorney general’s office requesting the investigation.

Addressing in Jackson has long been a source of contention between residents of the area and county authorities. Prior to 2007, coordinates in Jackson – the area of Cassia County located north of Interstate 84 and south of the Snake River – corresponded to the Minidoka County grid.

In 2006, Cassia County emergency-service providers complained of confusion stemming from Jackson callers reporting Minidoka County coordinates to Cassia County dispatchers; they proposed switching Jackson addresses to Cassia County coordinates. Jackson residents protested in near unanimity, saying there had been much less confusion when Minidoka County handled dispatching for the Jackson area.

Barrus said Jackson residents have made several complaints in calling for the attorney general’s investigation, including reference to a comment Handy made following an October 2006 meeting of the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission. At that meeting, planning and zoning commissioners recommended allowing Jackson residents to continue using Minidoka County coordinates. Buckley said, following planning and zoning’s vote, Handy said, “I don’t care what they say, your addresses are going to change.”

Handy has acknowledged making the comment, but he says it was not an indication county commissioners had already made up their minds to change Jackson’s coordinates.

Buckley confirmed Monday that Handy’s comment was among Jackson residents’ allegations of improper procedure.

In November 2006, county commissioners went against the P&Z recommendation and voted to change Jackson coordinates. Several months later, residents requested incorporation of the area as a city. County commissioners denied that request.

Jackson residents have complained emergency services have not improved since their address change took effect in the fall of 2007. Commissioners and emergency service providers in Cassia County say more training and time to adjust to the change will clear up confusion.

Sven Berg may be reached at 208-677-8764 or sberg@southidahopress.com

From the Times-News

From the Spokesman-Review

Click here to read the brief.

Bill Morlin
Staff writer
April 16, 2008

The public should be able to “observe all matters” considered by a U.S. District Court jury that will decide if confessed killer Joseph Duncan should face the federal death penalty, 16 media and open-government organizations argued in a legal brief filed on Tuesday.

The organizations, including The Spokesman-Review and three Spokane television stations, urged U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge to keep his Boise courtroom open if kidnap victim Shasta Groene is called to testify or if the jury is shown a graphic videotape Duncan made as he tortured and killed her brother.

Public access is important so citizens “can fully comprehend how this unique judicial process works and how the various participants – judge, jury, counsel, witnesses and the defendant – perform their duties and conduct themselves concerning imposition of capital punishment,” states a legal brief filed by attorneys Duane Swinton and Joel Hazel, who represent The Spokesman-Review.

Selection of the jury, begun Monday in Boise, is expected to take several more weeks. The judge said he will decide on the courtroom-closure issues at an unspecified future date without hearing oral arguments.

The judge had asked the media, through court-designated media liaison Betsy Russell, whether he could exclude the public from viewing a videotape Duncan made if the court allows it to be shown to the jury, and if the courtroom also could be closed if Shasta Groene or other potential witnesses testify. Russell is a Boise-based reporter with The Spokesman-Review and also is president of the Idaho Press Club.

“Everyone really cares whether Joseph Duncan gets the death penalty or not,” Russell said Tuesday. “It’s our job to inform the public how the jury reaches that decision, and that’s extremely important. It’s a job we can’t do if the courtroom is closed.”

Duncan’s videotape and Shasta Groene’s testimony – either live or through a videotape – are expected to be used by the prosecution to show there were “aggravating circumstances” warranting the death penalty.

Before the court can close any of its proceedings, a judge must determine there is a “compelling reason for closure” outweighing the public’s right of access under the First Amendment, Swinton and Hazel argue in their legal brief.

Further, they said, the court must rule there would be a “substantial probability a compelling interest would be harmed” if closure didn’t occur, and there are no alternatives to closure that would adequately protect the compelling interest.

“Public access to the proceedings in this matter relating to potential imposition of the death sentence must be provided because this required test for closure cannot be satisfied,” the brief said.

Initially, defense attorneys and prosecutors had agreed to use the videotaped testimony of Shasta Groene to keep her from having to go to a federal courtroom and face the man who kidnapped and sexually abused her and killed her brother. But that legal agreement apparently has fallen apart, and the young victim may now be called as a witness.

The media outlets are not seeking to film or broadcast the girl’s testimony or the videotape Duncan made while holding the two kidnapped children at a remote cabin on the Idaho-Montana border.

The identities of the two Groene children have been in the public domain since May 2005 when their kidnapping and the related murders of their mother and two others generated national media attention for several weeks and regional media coverage for much longer. Shasta Groene appeared on the syndicated Geraldo Rivera show and her father was on Oprah, discussing the impact of the crimes on the family.

“As a result, closing the courtroom will not protect the privacy of (Shasta Groene) concerning the fact that she was assaulted by the defendant and observed the killing of (Dylan Groene) by the defendant,” the brief said.

“These facts and the general nature of the defendant’s treatment of (both children) have already been publicly disclosed and have been widely disseminated not only in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington but throughout the country,” the brief said.

“We understand the sensitive and painful issues surrounding this case,” said Senior Editor Carla Savalli of The Spokesman-Review.

“It is not our intention to further harm the victims of Joseph Duncan, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that he is facing the death penalty,” Savalli said. “The public must be able to weigh the evidence in this case along with the jury in order to decide whether justice has been served.”

The Spokesman-Review, she said, “is focused on the principle of an open and transparent judicial process because that it what ultimately benefits us all.”

Others joining in petitioning the court are The Associated Press; the Idaho Statesman; the Idaho Press Club; the Idaho Newspaper Foundation; Idahoans for Openness in Government; Idaho Allied Dailies; Idaho State Broadcasters; Boise State Radio; KHQ-TV; KREM-TV; KXLY-TV; KTVB-TV; KTRV-TV; KBCI-TV and KIVI-TV.

Swinton said he was unaware of any recent case in the Inland Northwest where so many different media organizations joined together on an issue of public access to court proceedings.

“This unified effort underscores how important it is that the public be able to understand how the criminal justice system works, particularly where the case involves the extremely rare situation where a jury is to consider imposition of the death penalty under federal law,” Swinton said.

From the Spokesman-Review

From the Idaho Statesman

Looking for a landslide winner in a divisive political year? We nominate openness in government.

A new nationwide survey, conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University, demonstrates an overwhelming interest in open government – at all levels of government:

Eighty-seven percent of respondents say a presidential candidate’s position on open government is either very important or somewhat important.

For congressional candidates, it’s 88 percent.

For state candidates, it’s 92 percent.

At the city council or school board level, it’s 91 percent.

This was a survey of 1,012 American adults from all walks of life – people who are, we hope, voters a lot like you.

These survey results are something to celebrate, as media groups join together this week to mark Sunshine Week, an annual celebration of the importance of open government. The public’s right to know clearly is not some vestigial phrase from our high school government classes, memorized for a quiz but soon forgotten. It is a core value, treasured by all consumers of government.

No surprise there. Open meetings and open records laws are not just “media” laws. They belong to us all – and can be used by any of us.

When disgruntled bicyclist Gary Segers wanted to know why a stretch of Garden City’s Greenbelt was open only to walkers, he used public documents to piece together a convoluted history. Public records indicate that the state always intended for the riverside path to accommodate walkers and bikers.

When curious voters want to know who supports their local legislator – either with a cash campaign donation or the “in-kind” contribution of a flight on a private corporate plane – they can turn to campaign finance reports for the information.

When Eagle residents were alarmed about the size of planned communities proposed for the pristine Foothills north of their city, they showed up to speak their mind.

City leaders listened – and ultimately, they also heard. After 36 public meetings on the M3 planned community, the City Council scaled back the project from 13,720 homes to 7,153 homes.

Government doesn’t work fastest when it works in the open; ask anyone in Eagle.

But it does work best when it works in public view.

That’s why media groups objected after a closed State Board of Education meeting in December; during the meeting, board members discussed the future of a standardized test for ninth-graders. The fate of the Idaho Standards and Achievement Test, a graduation requirement for Idaho 10th-graders, is clearly in the public interest.

By discussing the ISAT in closed meeting – even briefly – the board might have unknowingly violated state Open Meeting Law, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said last month.

Compliance with open meetings law and open records law isn’t just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. It is a matter of keeping the public informed, and nothing less.

On open government issues, the American public and the media seem of one mind: passionate but skeptical. Americans want to elect candidates who are committed to openness, the Scripps Howard-Ohio University survey shows.

But the survey also delivered a stinging critique of the outgoing Bush administration: A whopping 74 percent of respondents said the federal government is “somewhat secretive” or “very secretive.”

At least Americans can do something about this, one vote at a time. They elect a new president in November.

In Idaho, voters get to elect a new U.S. senator and two House members. At the state and local levels, Idahoans also will elect 105 legislators and dozens of county officials.

So if you care about your right to know, ask your candidates where they stand.

If you want to demand openness in government, start by demanding it from your candidates.

“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail editorial@idahostatesman.com.

From the Idaho Statesman

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. It’s our annual confab about open government in all its forms.

The Southwest Chapter of Idaho Press Club is sponsoring two events:

Debate on Debates
Tuesday, March 18
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Beside Bardenay, 612 Grove Street, Boise

Join journalists, analysts and political professionals as we discuss the validity and usefulness of public debates. Are they still useful? Should they be mandatory for candidates? Is the public paying attention?

Appetizers and a no-host bar
$10.00 members, $12.00 non-members and $7.00 students
Panelists: Marcia Franklin, Jim Weatherby, Jeff Malmen, Marty Peterson
Moderator: Marc Johnson
RSVP idpc@mindspring.com or (208) 389-2879

Deciphering Finance Reports
Thursday, March 20
12:00-1:30 p.m. Luncheon
The Boiler Room at Bardenay, 612 Grove Street, Boise

We’ll take a tour through the arcane but essential (and sometimes newsworthy) world of campaign finance reports with three veterans as our guides.

Panelists: John Miller, Dan Popkey, Betsy Russell
Moderator: Shea Andersen

$10.00 members, $12.00 non-members and $7.00 students
RSVP idpc@mindspring.com or (208) 389-2879

Details are on the Idaho Press Club Website: idahopressclub.org

From the Spokesman-Review

Official documents would be stored online

Betsy Z. Russell
Staff writer
February 24, 2008

BOISE – Despite a 1972 law that requires them all to be saved, official Idaho state publications have been vanishing left and right.

The reason: Idaho’s state repository system is so out of date that few agencies comply with its requirement to send 20 copies of every publication to the state librarian for placement in a series of libraries around the state.

These days, that requirement is expensive, unwieldy and not suited for publications that in many cases only exist in cyberspace, officials say. So state lawmakers are considering legislation to set up a new “digital repository” for state publications, which would collect all state publications and make them easily available on the Internet.

“We have been aware for quite some time that the current system is not effective,” said State Librarian Ann Joslin.

An example cropped up in 2006 when then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne headed to Washington, D.C., to become the new secretary of the Interior, and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch took over as governor. Overnight, Kempthorne’s Web site and everything on it vanished, replaced by Risch’s.

“The Kempthorne Web site was gone. You couldn’t access it,” Joslin said.

Some agencies archive publications on their Web sites. Many simply overwrite one publication such as a newsletter or manual when a new one comes out.

Joslin said it’s not uncommon for her office to get calls from agencies looking for something they published 20 years prior, hoping someone, somewhere, has a copy. Often, no one does.

Under the digital repository system, one electronic copy of every state publication would go to the state Commission for Libraries, which would preserve it in the new digital repository. If the publication is available in print, agencies would send two print copies – one to the Idaho Historical Society and the other to archives at the University of Idaho.

“It’s much more efficient for them to store the documents digitally,” said state Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, who spoke in favor of the bill in the Senate. “And it also provides for much better public access.”

There’s a financial reason for a digital repository, too: Agencies are producing more and more publications, and printing, storing and shipping copies of those – and making them available to the public years later – would cost far more than putting them all online.

“There’s a small amount of capital investment in the technology that’s required to kind of make this conversion, but there’s a huge cost savings in duplication fees and storage fees,” Kelly said. “And then, of course, the greater public access – you can’t put a price on it, but that’s going to be one of the great benefits of this. A lot more information will be available.”

State publications contain information aimed at the general public, as opposed to regulatory documents or forms.

The old repository has everything from past state highway maps to an Idaho Arthritis Resource Guide from 2003. There are statistical reports on arrest rates by police agencies, reports from state fish hatcheries dating back decades, and a series of publications about sensitive plant species.

The repository would cost $202,000 next year to set up, then $132,000 a year to operate and maintain.

State Historical Society Director Janet Gallimore said, “Those collections will be far more complete for current and future users.”

After the digital repository is up and running, Joslin said, old print publications will eventually be digitized and added.

From the Spokesman-Review