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(TRENTON, NJ – May 23, 2024) - On behalf of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and the more than 88,000 Black-owned businesses we represent across the state, I am urging Governor Phil Murphy to veto the recently passed OPRA reform legislation. This anti-transparency bill represents a betrayal of the trust placed in him by 94% of New Jersey's Black voters who turned out to elect him in 2017.
As the community that provided Murphy with his strongest support at the ballot box, we had high expectations that his administration would uphold principles of open government, ethics, and accountability. However, this OPRA overhaul does the opposite - it guts key provisions of the original 2002 law, removing the presumption of public access and giving agencies broad discretion to deny requests. It eliminates fee-shifting that incentivizes compliance and allows agencies to limit the number of records requests.
These regressive changes will make it exponentially more difficult for the public, including Black-led advocacy organizations like ours, to obtain information on the activities of state and local government. Lack of transparency breeds corruption and undermines faith in democratic institutions. As a core constituency, we have a vested interest in ensuring our government operates transparently and ethically in line with the ideals Murphy campaigned on.
While the bill provides some funding for technology upgrades, the overall impact will be to severely curtail the public's right to know how their tax dollars are being utilized. This is unacceptable and a betrayal of the 94% of Black voters who turned out for Murphy based on promises of reform.
I urge Governor Murphy to listen to the voices of his most loyal supporters and veto this anti-transparency legislation. New Jersey should be expanding access to public records, not creating more barriers and increasing government secrecy. The governor must protect the public's right to scrutinize the actions of their elected officials - a right he assured Black voters he would uphold when he sought our support in 2017.
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