Trimet wants more loopholes in the public records system

It happens every time the Oregon Legislature meets: Someone enters a bill to slap another exemption or two onto the state’s open-records laws.
It’s happening again with a pair of bills that have been introduced into the 2014 session that began this week. One of the bills is well-meaning; the other one is a head-scratcher. But neither is necessary.
The first of the two bills, House Bill 4086, is the well-meaning one: It would exempt from disclosure personally identifiable information collected by mass transit electronic fare-collection systems. Portland’s TriMet is reportedly moving toward such a fare-collection system.
The truth is that other, less sweeping, means exist for agencies to restrict access to that narrow class of information: For example, TriMet could post an opt-out form on its website specifically for domestic-violence victims. A similar system is used by the Portland Police Bureau.
The second bill, House Bill 4093, creates a public-records exemption for reports on proposals for mitigation of sage grouse habitat. The exemption presumably would be used by private companies fearful that their reports might reveal trade secrets. The problem here is that there already is an exemption in the public records law for legitimate trade secrets.
We believe neither of these proposals now before the Legislature is essential.

SOURCE