‘Bad apples’: Police, teacher, UNC disciplinary records would be public under GOP bill
A government-transparency bill would make police, teachers’ and other public employees’ disciplinary records public.
The bill comes as there is more scrutiny nationwide on the personnel records of law enforcement and other government employees in the wake of police shootings.
In North Carolina, if someone was demoted, that’s already a public record. However if Senate Bill 355, the Government Transparency Act, becomes law, a general description of the reasons for demotion, dismissal, transfer or other change in position will be included in what’s public — as it already is for promotions.
John Midgette, executive director of the N.C. Police Benevolent Association, said the group is not opposed to the bill because of its efforts to be transparent.
“No one hates a bad cop more than a good cop,” Midgette told lawmakers in Tuesday’s Senate judiciary committee meeting. He asked for an amendment to the bill that would at least give police officers notice of records being released, saying that sometimes officers are disciplined “for matters of political expediency.”
“We are in the news all the time now,” Midgette said, adding that 99% of it is false.
“We are losing our best and brightest,” he said, and asked for a change to the bill, which could come later if it goes to the Senate floor.
Two changes that were made to the bill on Tuesday include the 80,000 UNC System employees in the bill, and clarify that sheriff’s office employees would also be included. The N.C. Sheriffs’ Association asked for that change.
They join the state, city, county and other government employees who would be affected by the bill.
Public records bill’s third try
This is the third time a bill like this has come up in the past 24 years. In 1997, Gov. Roy Cooper, who was then a state senator, sponsored Senate Bill 799. A 2011 bill, Senate Bill 344, closely mirrors the current bill. Neither made it to the governor’s desk. One of the 2011 bill’s co-sponsors, Republican Sen. Bill Rabon, is also co-sponsoring the new bill. Rabon, a Brunswick County Republican, is in the powerful position of Senate Rules chair, and the Senate is likely to move the bill within the next week or two before a key deadline.
Cooper’s office has not responded to News & Observer questions about his position on the bill since it was filed in March.
Bill sponsor Sen. Norman Sanderson, a Pamlico County Republican, told lawmakers that pushing the bill “is still a good idea for us, because we are the people who pay state employees in North Carolina ... and should be able to identify bad apples out there.”
“In a system this big, people are shifted place to place instead of being fired,” he said, and that a general description of why they were demoted does not go with them. Sanderson said his biggest concern is in education. The bill includes teachers and other state employees who work in education.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina didn’t like the 2011 bill, nor does it support this one. SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins previously told The News & Observer that the bill is bad policy that’s “like using a sledgehammer to try to kill a gnat.”
She said public employees know their salary information is already available, but “it’s a far cry different to have your salary, your basic information, available to the world than to have even unfounded accusations in your file and passed around.” Watkins said that her biggest concern is due process, and told the same to lawmakers in committee this week.
The North Carolina Press Association supports the bill.
“Having open access to government employee hiring, firing and performance records and especially disciplinary records inspires confidence in state and local government,” said John Bussian, a Raleigh-based media lawyer who serves as legislative counsel to the Press Association. [The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Herald-Sun are members of NCPA.]
Bussian told lawmakers in committee that there is already due process.
Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said that while she agrees about the reasoning on “bad apples,” she also doesn’t want information about employees’ health reasons for a transfer or “bogus complaints” made public.
Sanderson said the general attitude of society about public-employee records has changed in favor of transparency.
“We’re trying to strike a balance here, because I think it’s totally wrong to just record why somebody got a promotion and not record why they got a demotion,” Sanderson told The N&O on Tuesday. “I think the appeals process should have its full time to play out, and that should not be just thrown out there and put on somebody’s record when it’s not true.”
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This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 2:49 PM with the headline "‘Bad apples’: Police, teacher, UNC disciplinary records would be public under GOP bill."