Open and shut

Illinois, where it sometimes seems political corruption was invented (it surely was perfected there), gets a little more serious about transparency in government:

The measure will plug many loopholes in the FOIA law and establish a public access counselor under the attorney general to issue binding opinions in records disputes.

[. . .]

The new law also for the first time will establish penalties against governments that willfully violate the state's open-records laws. Under the changes Quinn will enact, fines can be imposed up to $5,000 against public bodies that break the law.

If Illinois can open up its act, maybe there's hope for Indiana, too. Indiana has a public access counslor, but only nonbinding opinions are issued. The penalties for violations of our open-meetings and open-records laws have amounted to a harsh scolding: "Bad, bad, public official; swear you'll never do that again." An attempt was made in the last session of the General Assembly to add fines of up to $500 (oooh, scary!) for violations, but it got killed in the House after passing the Senate. Bad, bad House.