Maine lawmakers on the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee did the right thing last week when they voted to send an important piece of Freedom of Information legislation to the Judiciary Committee for review.

L.D. 90, “An Act Regarding the Gambling Control Board,” creates broad – and illegitimate – exceptions to Maine’s public-records laws. The bill, which would take public records such as criminal background reports and make them off-limits, should be narrowed.

But just the act of sending the bill to the Judiciary Committee should be considered a victory for advocates of public access. In FOI reform passed during the last legislative session, the Judiciary Committee was given jurisdiction over all changes in the law. Unfortunately for this session, those reforms, which also include guidelines for the creation of new exemptions, don’t take effect until 2006.

It required an act of good judgment and restraint by the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee to send the bill to Judiciary. In a 10-2 vote, the committee made the right decision. Unfortunately, two members – Rep. Randy Hotham from Dixfield and Gary Moore from Standish – voted against the referral, citing the emergency status of the bill and possible delays in its passage.

Better to get it right than to needlessly rush through the process. Besides, it’s likely the Judiciary Committee will have its recommendations ready before a public hearing on the bill scheduled for Wednesday.

Now, it’s up to the Judiciary Committee to use its new guidelines and recommend that L.D. 90 be rewritten with more narrow FOI exemptions.