Louisiana House passes records bill

The Louisiana Senate is on deck again to vote on language the House approved for a bill that would publicize more information from the governor’s office but at the same time keep some currently public budget records secret for six months, according to The Associated Press.

Despite the efforts of transparency advocates to place the governor’s office more squarely under the public records law, The Times-Picayune says, the bill would create broad exemptions for the governor’s schedule and information falling under a "deliberative process" category.

According to the AP, the Louisiana Press Association has favored the bill, while the editorial boards for The Times-Picayune and The Baton Rouge Advocate opposed it. The measure now heads to the Senate for final approval of the House language changes, and would then go to the desk of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has been a strong proponent of it.