Efforts to reduce or expand the amount of public information from state and local personnel records aren't likely to succeed as the legislative session comes to a close.

Ray Martin, a spokesman for Senate leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, said the personnel law legislation "likely won't be resuscitated now, at least before we adjourn."

Two bills -- one in the House; the other in the Senate -- would have expanded the public personnel information to include explanations of disciplinary actions and employee performance. They also included penalties for government officials who denied records that were clearly public. The bills were supported by the N.C. Press Association, of which we are a member.

The other bill would have prevented the release of salary histories before Oct. 1, 2007, as well as any dismissal letters or the reporting of dismissals, suspensions or demotions for disciplinary reasons prior to Oct. 1, 2010. It also would have allowed governments to not have to write dismissal letters for employees such as sheriff's deputies who can be fired at will without explanation.

That bill, filed by state Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a Winston-Salem Republican, came at the behest of representatives for county commissioners, sheriffs and school boards.

None of the bills made it out of committee.

While the two bills expanding personnel information appeared dead earlier this month after Crossover Week -- the legislature's self-imposed deadline for passing legislation out of either chamber -- Brunstetter's bill appeared on the Senate Finance Committee's agenda at least twice this week, only to be removed before being heard.

On Tuesday, state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, said Brunstetter's bill was not likely to be heard by his committee.

Last year, state lawmakers expanded the amount of personnel information that should be public, including full salary histories and each suspension, demotion and promotion. Suspensions, demotions and dismissals for disciplinary reasons have to be identified.

Governments also have to release dismissal letters created before the law's start date, and must now produce dismissal letters that explain why an employee was fired. Those letters are also public.

The changes followed a three-part series we did, Keeping Secrets, that showed North Carolina had one of the most secretive personnel laws in the nation.

An attorney for The News & Observer today asked Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison to reconsider his decision not to provide key personnel records for a jail officer involved in an altercation that left an inmate in a coma two months ago.

Attorney Amanda Martin said in a letter to the sheriff and to Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby that withholding such personnel information is in violation of the public records law, which does not allow public records to be withheld simply because there is an ongoing criminal investigation.

Last week, Harrison said in a letter that Master Detention Officer Michael Hayes had served a disciplinary suspension without pay six months prior to the incident that has left Joshua Martin Wrenn in a coma at Duke Hospital, but declined to explain the circumstances.

Harrison had declined to produce any information about the suspension for several weeks because it is his practice not to release such information during the course of the SBI investigation. Willoughby said he did not want the information released while SBI agents were interviewing witnesses for fear it might alter their statements.

Once the interviews were completed, Willoughby told Harrison he had no issue with releasing Hayes’ personnel information. But Harrison then only released information related to actions taken after Oct. 1. That’s the start date of a new law that expanded the types of personnel records that are now public, including suspensions, demotions and dismissal letters.

Harrison contended it’s not clear that such information prior to Oct. 1 is public. Martin said that’s not the case, citing an opinion from the Attorney General’s office.

“Both the plain language of the statute and the opinion issued by the Attorney General plainly say that the General Assembly’s recent amendments ... make available to the public certain information that was created prior to the passage of the law,” Martin wrote.

Martin has asked to meet with Harrison and Willoughby next week to try to resolve the impasse. She said The N&O would file suit in state court to win the records’ release if Harrison continues to withhold them.
 

A lobbyist for school boards says a public records request by a Gaston County newspaper illustrates the difficulties state and local governments face in complying with the new personnel law.

Leanne Winner, the lobbyist for the N.C. School Boards Association, said the Gaston Gazette requested the "entire history" of every employee in the Gaston County school district.

"That's a huge amount of work," she said.

Except the school district's spokeswoman, Bonnie Reidy, and the Gaston Gazette reporter who wrote the story, Amanda Memrick, say that's not what was requested. The newspaper asked for all suspensions, demotions and dismissals for the 2010 calendar year.

"She's a little off on that one," Memrick said.

"We didn't have any problems with that," Reidy said.

The request produced a news report showing that nine school employees had been dismissed for disciplinary reasons, including a bus driver who left the bus running with students aboard, and a teacher assistant who filled out time sheets showing she was arriving to work earlier and leaving later than she actually was.

The report was one of several the Gazette published during Sunshine Week that made use of the new personnel law to tell readers about fired or disciplined employees in local government. The law, passed last year, makes public all salary and position histories, including suspensions, demotions and promotions. It also makes public dismissal letters, and requires governments to identify suspensions and demotions that were the result of disciplinary action.

The school board association supports state legislation that would prevent at least some of the dismissal letters' release because they had been written before Oct. 1, 2010, which is the date the new law made all the records public, according to the state Attorney General's office. The bill would also limit salary and position information back to Oct. 1, 2007. Two other bills would expand the amount of personnel information to be made public.

A legal opinion issued today by the state Attorney General's office says that the new law on personnel records requires state and local governments to release historical information on public employees' salary, employment and discipline.

The opinion comes after the Office of State Personnel and several local governments asked if the new law should only be applied to records created on or after Oct. 1, the law's start date. They suggested that since the law did not specifically cite retroactive information, it should only be applied to newly created personnel records.

A webinar this week raised an interesting question about the upcoming changes to the state's personnel law: Would it allow the release of dismissal letters handed out to employees before the law changes on Oct. 1?

One personnel manager, Barbara Gibson, who works for the N.C. Department of Justice, suggested that it wasn't fair for employees who have been fired to now face seeing those firing letters made public. She said they lost the ability to grieve over the release of those letters.

"In some cases, it could be ugly information," Gibson said.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Nesbitt apologized early Saturday morning for kicking yours truly out of a meeting in which lawmakers hashed out differences on the omnibus ethics bill.

Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, said he needed to keep the meeting closed so that lawmakers who had staked themselves out on the legislation could "walk back from the plank" and start reaching consensus.

They did, and at about 3 a.m. the legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill, which includes several measures that address issues raised in our Keeping Secrets series earlier this year.

Here's a scorecard on the three major areas raised in the series:

Salary and employment histories: The bill makes them public.

Disciplinary actions: The bill makes public dismissal letters and past suspensions and demotions of public employees, but no general opening of personnel files for those who commit on-the-job felonies.

Hiring actions: Lawmakers left this one largely untouched, though there is a provision that would provide a "general description" of promotions. But it's not likely that description will include the fact that a lawmaker or political fundraiser helped make that promotion happen.

A state Senate committee today voted to further expand the information that should be made public under North Carolina's personnel law.

They amended an omnibus ethics bill to include a general description explaining disciplinary actions behind demotions, transfers and suspensions within the past five years. The change is another significant step toward giving the public more information about the state and local employees whose salaries and pensions are supported by tax dollars.

John Bussian, a lawyer for the N.C. Press Association, of which we are a member, negotiated the additional transparency. He said that he had sought a 10-year-window, while representatives for teachers and local governments sought a three-year-window. He told the committee that the association supports the compromise.

Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, had sought to make disciplinary actions public. He accepted the provision, which was drawn up by state Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat.

The Senate committee had already approved making salary and employment histories public, and yesterday, a state House committee passed legislation that included the same provisions. Neither chamber has yet voted in full on any personnel law changes.

The moves follow Keeping Secrets, our three-part series that found North Carolina's personnel law is among the most secretive in the nation.

The ethics bill kicking around the state Senate could see some major additions tomorrow.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger said he and other Republicans are looking to beef up the bill in several ways that range from more open personnel records to limits on legislative leaders' campaign giving to colleagues.

Berger said he plans to add in the ethics provisions that the state House passed last year. They include disclosure of fundraising by political appointees and a prohibition on contractors from donating to campaigns.

Berger would add more transparency to personnel matters by making public disciplinary actions for state and local employees, as well and letters of recommendation from elected officials. The Senate bill currently only makes salary and employment histories public.

State Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat and Senate Rules Chairman, has also expressed an interest in making disciplinary actions public, something that the State Employees Association of North Carolina opposes.

Our recent series, Keeping Secrets, showed that North Carolina has one of the nation's most secretive laws regarding personnel matters, making little more than current salaries and current positions public.

Another planned provision that will likely trigger discussion is limiting the amount of campaign money that legislative leaders can steer toward a legislative candidate. Currently, legislative leaders can steer unlimited amounts of money to campaigns by running them through their political parties. The practice has resulted in legislative races in swing districts costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, wants to limit the giving to no more than $100,000 per candidate.

A state Senate judiciary committee is expected to take up the bill at 10 a.m. Tuesday. It would need to clear the committee, the full Senate and the House before the legislative session comes to a close.

The executive director of one of the state's largest employee groups says his organization supports the personnel law reforms as introduced in a Senate bill this week.

The omnibus ethics bill introduced by Senate leaders would make salary and employment histories public for most state and local employees. North Carolina appears to be the only state that limits public personnel information to an employee's current salary or position.

Dana Cope, executive director for the State Employees Association of North Carolina, had said in our recent series about the personnel law, Keeping Secrets, that he saw little issue with making that information public. So, it was not a surprise that he raised no objections when the bill was rolled out in a judiciary committee meeting Tuesday.

"I was surprised, frankly, that the law prohibited that information anyway," Cope said today.

Cope said he would have a problem if the legislation also opened up the release of information related to disciplinary actions. He said too many employees suffer discipline for political reasons, and that pain shouldn't be compounded by making the details public.

On the other hand, he said employees convicted of criminal misconduct should not enjoy such protections.

"In criminal activity, we support the opening of those records," he said.

Gov. Bev Perdue has submitted language that would make public personnel records related to criminal behavior, but that proposal did not make the Senate bill. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, meanwhile, is pushing to make the details of disciplinary actions public.

The Senate bill had been slated for a vote on the Senate floor only to be pulled back over concerns in an unrelated provision that would provide public financing for several statewide campaigns. It is back before the Senate judiciary committee for more discussion.

Gov. Bev Perdue's office made public this week draft legislation of personnel law reforms that would make state employees' salary and position histories public and allow the State Treasurer to report the agency for which retirees had previously worked.

The draft legislation also requires the release of personnel records for employees or appointees convicted of felonies. Those records would be limited to information related to the criminal conduct.

Her legislation would also require public boards and commissions to maintain and make public basic personnel information on appointees, such as name, year of birth, and dates of appointment or reappointment.

Perdue limited her legislation to state employees. Her spokeswoman, Chrissy Pearson, suggested in an e-mail message that we talk to the N.C. League of Municipalities or the N.C. Association of County Commissioners "about any push to include local employees."

Neither the league or the association have expressed an interest to change the personnel law for local employees. The league's executive director, Ellis Hankins, has said he likes the law the way it is.

But some of the former employees' whose pay or behavior have created an uproar worked for local governments, and therefore would not come under Perdue's legislation. Among those former employees are two of the biggest recipients of public pensions, Charles Franklin and Billy Williams, and Jessica Wishnask, a former teacher whose suspensions for improper conduct with a student weren't disclosed until she was caught having sex with him and sent to prison.

Pearson said Perdue would be open to legislation that provided more transparency in personnel matters involving local employees.

Perdue's legislation is the second to emerge after we reported earlier this year that North Carolina has one of the nation's most secretive personnel laws. The public is limited to current basic information about state and local employees, such as their current salaries and positions.

The law makes it difficult to track big pay increases or questionable job moves, or to find out about improper hires or the details regarding disciplined or fired employees.

In recent weeks, we have written about how the law is also making it hard to determine how public retirees' pensions have been calculated. Perdue's legislation is intended to make that process transparent. Her staff has been working with state Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat.

The state Senate appears to be taking the lead on passing legislation that would make personnel matters more transparent. Senate Majority Leader Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, said Monday that his judiciary committee plans to roll out an ethics package next week that would make salary histories public.

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