Letter to Senator Gregory Bell - SB179
	The following letter was both emailed and sent certified mail to Senator Gregory S. Bell. If Mr. Bell chooses to reply to us, we will gladly grant him space on our website for his full reply. If we do not receive any response from Mr. Bell, we will immediately announce details on how you can help lobby against SB 179. Dear Senator Gregory S. Bell,                              February 20, 2005      My name is Jeremy Beckham and I am speaking on behalf of myself and the animal advocacy organization Utah Primate Freedom Project (UPFP). We have grave concerns regarding your recently introduced legislation, Senate Bill 179, also known as ³Protection of Government Records.² We request an immediate response from you addressing our specific questions.      Since August of 2003, I have been actively involved in a dispute with the University of Utah under GRAMA to acquire protocols relating to primate experimentation on campus. I suspect you are aware of the lawsuit, as it has grabbed the local mediaıs attention and appears to be relevant to your proposed amendment to GRAMA. Certain portions of the lawsuit, including the basic right to public access to these records, have already been won by my organization after following an appeal to the Utah State Records Committee. Other parts of the lawsuit, regarding fees for these records, are still pending further appeal in District Court.      SB179 seems to aim to reverse all progress that has been made during the course of this lawsuit. The bill allows any ³person² who sponsors any type of research at public universities to acquire a ³Business Confidentiality Claim² exempting all records related to their research from public disclosure. The bill defines ³person² in this section to mean any individual or entity, including federal and state governments.      On February 16th, in committee, some senators claimed this bill aimed only to protect private corporations who are not investing in research at universities in Utah because they fear GRAMA requests. But GRAMA 63-2-304(1) already protects such corporations. Indeed, if your intent is only to protect private commerce, why do you include government branches in your definition of ³person²? It seems clear that SB179 will affect all research at the University of Utah, including nonproprietary research funded by the taxpayers.      During the course of the dispute, the Utah State Records Committee voted unanimously to release the protocols, the University of Utah campus paper wrote two staff editorials in support of releasing the records, and my organization has received a large volume of emails expressing public support for release of the records.      Our questions are simple. What is the purpose of this bill? How do the citizens and taxpayers of Utah benefit from your proposed legislation? Whose interests does this bill have in mind?      SB179 is moving quickly through the legislative process. As such, we ask for a timely response from your office. If we do not receive a substantive reply or a genuine attempt at reconciliation of the publicıs interests, we will be forced to launch a strong concentrated lobbying effort to assure transparency in government through the defeat of SB179.      Sincerely,      Jeremy Beckham
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