Late last week on this website, I was flabbergasted to read a lengthy commentary about California Senate Bill 1149 that was both reckless and grossly inaccurate. As an ethics professor with 20 years’ experience in drafting anti-secrecy legislation, including helping on Sen. Connie Leyva’s excellent SB 1149, I’m compelled to respond.

Simply put, SB 1149, the Public Right To Know Act, will save lives. The way it is now, corporations sued over defective products or environmental hazards hide their dirty laundry disclosed in litigation. They do this by getting plaintiffs’ lawyers to agree to secrecy agreements or stipulations for overbroad protective orders that prevent public awareness of those defects and hazards. More recently, many judges issue standing protective orders that allow corporations to self-select what they deem to be confidential—selections that may be challenged only by overcoming difficult and burdensome procedural hurdles.

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