From the New Bern Sun Journal (3/16/11): The House Rules Committee has given its approval to what has been dubbed the Sunshine Amendment. It is expected to be on the floor on Thursday in time to have a vote during Sunshine Week.
The proposed Sunshine Amendment, sponsored by Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, would etch open government policy into the N.C. Constitution. Executive and legislative branch government agencies, as wall as local governments across the state, would fall under the provision.
All meetings and public records would be open to the public unless specifically exempted by a three-fifths majority of both chambers of the General Assembly. Exemptions already in effect at the time the amendment would take effect would continue to be in force.
“Let’s make open government in North Carolina a right as opposed to what it is now, a privilege,” LaRoque said.
Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, disagreed with LaRoque’s assertion.
“It’s not a privilege now, it’s a right,” Hackney said.