Only five states -- Florida, Michigan, New York, Virginia and Washington -- have narrowed their open records laws or adopted statutes similar to the federal Patriot Act, which gives law enforcement authorities expanded search and wiretap powers.
This reality is at odds with a report issued by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press last month, which said states "have been eager to follow in the footsteps of the federal government in the war on terrorism through legislation."
"What we were covering [in the report] was what had actually come up in proposals, but what we are finding is that they didn't go that far at all in terms of legislation," said Rebecca Daugherty, director of the committee's Freedom of Information Service Center.
Maryland is a case in point of the trend in state legislatures to go slow. After long, spirited wrangling, the state's general assembly and senate approved competing measures that would expand police wiretap and search powers, make it harder for immigrants to get driver's licenses and limit access to some government information.
But the two chambers have yet to work out differences between their bills, and it's unclear whether they will take any major action before their scheduled adjournment on April 8.
Similar situations prevail in eight other states that are close to adjournment.
Maryland's debate of anti-terrorism measures is illustrative of what's been happening in many legislatures. The battle lines cross political and ideological divides, and the opposing camps are in no hurry to compromise.
Maryland Delegate Carmen Amedori, a conservative Republican from Westminster ,is against efforts to expand wiretap powers and close off more public records and meetings..
"This is a knee-jerk reaction [to 9/11]; this is nothing but an infringement on peoples' rights," said Amedori, who once worked as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. "I appreciate the need to ease concerns. But it's like Defense Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld said when all this started: if we end up treading on civil rights, then the terrorists have won."
The measure at the heart of the debate is sponsored by Delegate Ann Marie Doory, a moderate Democrat from Baltimore. She says it simply updates the state's wiretap laws to address new technologies that suspected terrorists might take advantage of.
"If you believe what our federal government ... is telling us about the [terrorist] threats, then you need to support this bill," Doory said. "Rights are important, but if you believe we're living in a new environment, which I do, then we need to be proactive."
Greg McDonald, Stateline.org
