In honor of Sunshine Week, Sens. Debbie Clary, R-Cleveland, Tommy Tucker, R-Union, and Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, have introduced Senate Bill 344, Government Transparency Act of 2011.

The bill would expand public access to government employees’ personnel records by requiring employers to make public the reasons for workers’ promotions, demotions, transfers, suspensions, firings. Performance reviews also would be available for public review. And the law would make it easier for those who successfully sue governments that try to evade the law to recover their attorneys’ fees. Workers covered by the law would include city, state, county, and local school board employees, along with those who work for college boards of trustees and other state authorities. Currently, those personnel records are shielded from public view.

The groups representing public employees will scream bloody murder, but they work for us, don’t they?