ALASKA VOTERS ORGANIZATION
RESOLUTION 2004-02
A resolution to the 23rd. Alaska State Legislature in SUPPORT of House Joint Resolution 11, which calls for a constitutional amendment that requires openness in government, be the rule, and secrecy the exception. The amendment ensures that the public is not excluded during the substantive deliberative and decision-making stages of the budgetary and lawmaking process
WHEREAS, the original intent of our open meetings law is clearly stated in the Alaska Statutes: “the people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them; the people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know; the people's right to remain informed shall be protected so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”; and
WHEREAS, in 1994 the Alaskan Legislature voted to exempt themselves from the open meetings law, thereby placing themselves above the law created to protect the public’s right to know; and
WHEREAS, openness in government should be the rule and secrecy the exception; and
WHEREAS,
this amendment will ensure that the public is not excluded from the decision making stages of the budgetary and lawmaking process;
NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Alaska Voters Organization Board of Directors, that we support HJR 11, and recommend the 23rd. Alaska State Legislature put this important issue on the fall 2004 ballot for a vote of the people; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED
that all future meetings convened for the purpose of conducting the people’s business, be held in the open for all to see and hear.
Adopted by the Alaska Voters Organization Board of Directors, this 17th day of March, 2004
Alaska Voters Organization, Inc.
P. O. Box 2016
Kenai, Alaska
99611-2016
(907) 776-8008
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