Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin rejected a group's first attempt to get a constitutional amendment strengthening open records laws on the 2024 ballot.

An organization called Arkansas Citizens for Transparency is trying to get an amendment on the ballot in 2024 which would enshrine the Freedom of Information Act in the state constitution.

Arkansas has some of the strongest FOIA laws in the nation. This year, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders failed to roll back the law. She said its broadness jeopardized her safety and wanted to significantly alter it. The plan received massive bipartisan backlash. Sanders was able to pass a piece of compromise legislation exempting her travel information from FOIA.

Arkansas Attorney General rejects FOIA amendment

*John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate*
Attorney General Tim Griffin rejected a ballot proposal Monday to enshrine FOIA in the state constitution.

KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

The government transparency group hoping to enshrine the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act in the state Constitution released a second draft of a proposed amendment with an accompanying citizen-initiated act Monday.

Arkansas Citizens for Transparency (ACT) unveiled its first draft of the proposed amendment last month, with the goal of qualifying for the 2024 statewide ballot. The nonpartisan group formed after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders advocated for several exemptions to the FOIA and signed one into law after a special legislative session in September.

The seven members of ACT’s drafting committee realized they could better achieve their goals of creating enforceable government transparency policy by proposing an act as well as an amendment, they said in a statement Tuesday.

Arkansas transparency group unveils new drafts for FOIA constitutional amendment, initiated act