Senators rejected a proposal Monday to remove strict limitations on what legal research Indiana’s public access counselor could consider in reviewing open government matters.

That means House Bill 1338 could face a full Senate vote on Tuesday with provisions that supporters of the access counselor’s office argue would hamstring its ability to answer questions about the state’s open meetings and public records laws.

An unrecorded voice vote in the Republican-dominated Senate turned aside an amendment by Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Portage, to remove those provisions that Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, added to the bill last week.

The bill would allow the access counselor’s advisory opinions to consider only “the public access laws, as plainly written,” and “valid opinions of Indiana courts.”

Pol argued those restrictions would prevent the access counselor from considering federal court decisions or even consulting a law dictionary in answering questions.

“The laws that we make don’t necessarily fit every every issue into a nice little box,” Pol said. “It’s going to leave … our public access counselor’s hands tied.” 

Freeman and bill sponsor Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, expressed frustration with some of Public Access Counselor Luke Britt’s opinions without giving specifics.

While the opening section of Indiana’s public access law states it should be “liberally construed,” the bill would block the access counselor from doing so.

“A liberal interpretation of our code is what led us to this point,” Baldwin said in speaking against Pol’s amendment. “We were very deliberate in saying that we wanted to have a strict interpretation of that code.”

The Legislature in 1999 established the access counselor position to review questions from the public, government officials and others about the state’s open meetings and public records laws.

The public access counselor’s office, with two attorneys and one other staff member, issues dozens of advisory opinions each year but has no authority to enforce the access laws or punish violators.

Britt was appointed access counselor in 2013 by then-Gov. Mike Pence and reappointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2017 and 2021.

Another provision  Senate Republicans added to the bill would erode the office’s independence by eliminating the access counselor’s four-year term and making the position one that serves “at the pleasure of the governor.”

Tom Davies is a Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Pro Indiana. Reach him at [email protected] or on X at @TomDaviesIND.

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