But the governor failed to follow through on her promise. Farmer said the governor's office would have lost leverage with the Legislature if the order had been signed. Thomas Cafferty, an attorney representing the press association, said he is optimistic a new bill will be agreed upon, but several sticking points remain. One major question is whether correspondence one agency writes to another, or letters sent to legislators or the governor's office, would remain open. Officials fear that opening such correspondence to the public will have a chilling effect on communications.
Subpoenaed documents are another issue.
The press association is pushing for the records to remain open even if they become part of an investigation later. Sen. Robert J. Martin, R-Morris, who joined the effort for a new public records law after a gadfly in his district was unable to get a copy of a municipal budget, said there is little push from local and state government leaders to change the status quo. It is occasionally embarrassing for a school board to release information. No one in government was that anxious to go forward with this. The bill would create a law much like Florida's, opening all records to public purview, unless a law is passed to close specific documents.