According to information provided to The Des Moines Register by the Iowa Ombudsman's office, complaints and requests for information about Iowa's open-meetings and open-records laws have nearly doubled in the last five years. In 2003, the number of complaints and inquiries totaled 163, a total that rose to 304 in 2007.

The increase in the number of complaints may account, at least in part, for the fact that Iowa was among 38 of 50 states that received failing marks in a national study that analyzed responsiveness to open-records laws.

Over the summer, a bipartisan group of Iowa lawmakers worked on the question of how to improve the state's open-records and open-meetings laws. A bill that is set to be discussed in the Legislature in the coming weeks would create a new state office to mediate and enforce disputes over openness.

The bipartisan panel convened after The Register reported that the Iowa attorney general's office and county attorneys, offices with the legal authority to enforce open meetings and open records laws, seldom take formal legal action to hold violators accountable.

Among changes recommended by the proposed legislation:

* The bill creates a five-member state commission - appointed by the governor but independent from other public agencies - that could resolve disputes between citizens and public officials. The commission would have the authority to mediate disputes informally but also bring cases in court against violators.

While the commission would not have legal jurisdiction over the Legislature, the governor or the courts, citizens would be able to file lawsuits to resolve disputes involving those offices.

In theory, the independent commission would eliminate concerns about conflicts of interest by the Iowa attorney general and county attorneys, who are supposed to enforce the law but also bear responsibility for representing government officials in legal matters.

* The bill raises fines for violations from a minimum of $100 to a minimum of $1,000 and the maximum fine from $500 to $2,500.

* Public officials would have a firm deadline - five days - to respond to open-records requests.

* The bill would make the names of public employment job applicants of five finalists public record. In the case of fewer than five finalists, all applicants would be public records.

* The bill prohibits so-called walking quorums, in which public officials move in and out of meetings to avoid a state law that requires them to open meetings to the public where there is a quorum of elected officials present.

* The bill clarifies that all relevant records held by non-government bodies such as foundations and search firms doing work for public bodies are public records.

On the down side, the bill would make some preliminary or draft records, records that the public has some access to now, confidential. The bill is also overly broad in protecting against identity theft from public records. Clarification of the latter two issues prior to passage of the proposed legislation should remove Iowa from the list of states with failing marks when it comes to openness.