Objections were also voiced by Sam Friedman, editor-in-chief of National Underwriters property and casualty edition, and Alan Prochoroff, editor of Insurance Compliance Week. As part of the new access policy, media outlets may contact NCOIL to obtain copies of “nonpublic” documents “with the clear stipulation that the information shall not be distributed beyond that reporter,” the group said.

Mr. Prochoroff e-mailed NCOIL to say he agreed with Mr. Hunters criticism, adding that “restricting access to the press, who are working in the public interest, is also bad policy.”

Mr. Friedman said he would outline his objections in his weekly editorial column, “A View From The Press Box” (see page 32). “I rarely see eye-to-eye with Bob Hunter, but I support him 100 percent on this issue,” Mr. Friedman writes in the column. “There is no way a group of public officials should keep information about the publics business from the publicunless, that is, they are willing to pay for the privilege!”

Mr. Geller said the action was taken to encourage more states to join the organization and pay the $10,000 membership fee. He said representatives from smaller states unwilling or unable to pay for meeting travel and membership say, “Why should we join if we can access everything on the Web without joining?” He noted that NCOILs membership has declined from a high of 37 states to its current 33.

Candace Frick, NCOILs director of legislative affairs and education, said other organizations like the National Council of State Legislatures have implemented similar Web site access restrictions.

NCOIL, based in Albany, N.Y., said the change will make private portions of the site containing NCOIL-adopted model legislation and resolutions, reports and issue briefs, as well as future NCOIL meeting minutes and meeting reports. Working drafts will remain accessible to everyone until they are adopted. Registrants for future NCOIL meetings will be given temporary passwords, which will grant access to material related to that conference, minutes and meeting reports.

Those who do not attend an NCOIL meeting will be charged a fee for that conferences minutes and meeting report. Additional fees will be charged for access to NCOIL model bills and resolutions that are adopted. Ms. Frick said she did not have price information immediately available because “were fine-tuning the fee schedule.”

Closing off meeting data is “not by any means meant to close off access. Its to preserve the entity, not to shut people out,” said Ms. Frick. Legislators, she explained, were “increasingly concerned we were giving too much away on our Web site, and we had to stem that.”

However, Mr. Hunter countered that NCOILs action set up an unnecessary barrier between the public and an organization that he characterized as being dominated by insurance company delegates at meetings attended by part-time legislators who often work in insurance.

Ms. Frick said the organization does waive attendance fees for four consumer representatives, but doesnt have the money to pay their expenses as does the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In an e-mail response to Mr. Hunter, Ms. Frick said NCOIL “appreciates your concerns” and that the groups Business Planning Committee would “further discuss the question of consumer access to the Web site” later this month.

Mr. Davis at the Freedom of Information Center said that closing the NCOIL site, while “not a violation of any one states sunshine lawsis a cynical manipulation of the spirit of public lawmaking.”

Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York Department of States Committee on Open Government, said NCOIL is “not government,” and thus would not be covered by freedom of information law. However, he added, any documents NCOIL provides to state insurance departments would be subject to state FOI law and public inspection.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, January 30, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.