O’Scanlon & DiMaso: Press Should Join Call for Pandemic Information Sharing

Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso both (R-Monmouth) called on members of the press to join their request for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin to post A-4813 for a vote at Thursday’s Assembly voting session. A-4813 would require that public health information during the pandemic be subject to OPRA disclosure.

“Supporting transparency in government is a bipartisan endeavor, and always has been,” said O’Scanlon. “It is also an issue that should be essential to the press who understand the importance of information sharing with the public. The intent of the Emergency Health Powers Act is being misconstrued by the administration — the original sponsors of the act have publicly expressed this opinion as well. This pandemic is a time for greater information sharing, not less. The public deserves to know what information is being used for continued shutdown policies as soon as possible. The press should be calling out anyone opposing or stalling this sort of government transparency.”

“There is no reason for this critical legislation to be stalled when it has passed the Senate floor and Assembly committee unanimously,” said DiMaso. “We would like to see more members of the media joining in the call for government transparency and information sharing during the pandemic, which is the purpose of this bill. The press cannot accurately help inform the public when information is being withheld by the government. The Senator and I sent a letter to Speaker Coughlin requesting that he post A-4813 for a vote at the Assembly voting session tomorrow. This is a bipartisan, common sense piece of legislation that we hope he will join the urgency in supporting.”