Aiken Rep. Bill Taylor remains optimistic that the S.C. House can pass a Freedom of Information Act bill that would, among other things, give people a less-expensive way to fight governments when records requests are denied.
But stakeholder groups such as the S.C. Sheriff's Association maintain that the bill is hindering individual departments' abilities to respond to requests.
A Senate subcommittee took testimony Wednesday on House bill 3191, which would allow residents and public bodies to resolve FOI disputes without having to file a suit in Circuit Court. The bill also would set limits on costs to search for items and require copies to be provided at the prevailing local copy rates.
An amendment to the bill would further assist the process by creating an office at the state level for those who are denied what they requested to appeal the decision by using an impartial third party.
The sheriff's association took issue with the bill's requirement that public agencies' time of 15 days to respond to an FOI request will be knocked down to 10 days if they are required to pull more than two years of records. If records are more than 2 years old, agencies will have more than 15 days.
The House passed the bill in February but received a "no vote" from Graniteville Republican Chris Corley, who told the Aiken Standard that sheriff departments might have to pull deputies off the street just to file FOI reports.
Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt said the deadline issue was one sheriffs could "live with," but the state association reintroduced the argument Wednesday.
In response, Tim O'Briant, editor of the Aiken Standard, and Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, testified that Georgia requires agencies to answer public records requests within three days.
"If Georgia can do it in three days, then South Carolina can do it in 10," O'Briant said.
Taylor has been the primary sponsor of the bill for the past two sessions and has been fighting for its passage for five years. The Aiken Republican refers to it as the "people's bill" and said he is optimistic that the Senate will pass it.
"Senators have indicated favor in the FOI bill, and I would think that they'll modify it slightly. But my hope is that it will advance in the next week or so," Taylor said.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University.
Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.