Democrats launch less-than-longshot effort to restore public access to lawmaker communications

A 2023 budget exempted state lawmakers from the state's public records law. A group of Democrats now want a return to transparency when it comes to redistricting and lawmaker communications.

Democratic state Rep. Lindsey Prather of Buncombe County attends a legislative session on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Two years ago, GOP lawmakers gave themselves the unilateral ability to sell, destroy and disclose any of their communications as they see fit.

The public records exemption was buried in a 625-page budget and drew immense scrutiny from liberal and conservative newsrooms, partisan activists, media advocates and a number of organizations. Despite the outcry, the changes haven’t been met with any lawsuits.

Before the 2023 budget took effect, Anderson Alerts asked lawmakers to retain and disclose all their communications. Only four of the 170 General Assembly members did so. A subsequent request for lawmakers to disclose a mere single email of their choice was met with similar evasiveness, with 103 members totally unresponsive. An analysis of lawmakers’ levels of transparency is available here.

Of the 67 who did respond to records requests, nine didn’t provide any communications. The 58 who did turn over documents included 42 Democrats (27 House and 15 Senate) and 16 Republicans (15 Senate and one House).

The most abysmal response rate was among House Republicans, where only one of 72 members (former Rep. Frank Sossamon) provided any communications.

On Thursday, four of the state’s most liberal Democrats— Reps. Marcia Morey of Durham County, Lindsey Prather of Buncombe County, Pricey Harrison of Guilford County and Beth Helfrich of Mecklenburg County— filed a bill in a less-than-longshot effort to reverse the public records changes enacted in 2023.

“We need to keep in the public’s mind some of the really bad, structural, systemic things that Republicans have been doing,” Prather said. “There’s a ton of bad things that have Republicans have done, but this on a level that the public needs to be aware of.”

A spokesperson for House Speaker Destin Hall didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.