Wednesday, June 30, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven Panel OK's document disclosure By CHRIS PARKS LANSING (UPI) - A con- troversial bill requiring the disclosure of most public documents, including the inter- nal staff memorandums of state and local bureaucracies, has been approved by a House committee. The House Civil Rights Committee unanimously ap- proved the bill and reported it to the full House yesterday. However, committee Chairman Perry Bullard, (D - Ann Arbor), sponsor of the bill, said it will not come up for a vote before this fall. B U L L A R D SAID nev- ertheless he wanted the bill placed on the House calendar over the summer recess "for focusing public debate and dis- cussion on this issue and so if there are further concerns" it can be amended. One amendment expected to be offered would. extend im- munity provided in the bill for the governor and individual lawmakers to include mayors and city council members. This was proposed by a lobbyist for the Michigan Municipal League yesterday, and Bullard indicat- ed he would be sympathetic. Bullard later defended the legislature exempting itself and the governor from the bill, saying this was unnecessary because including them would "cripple the functioning of the legislative and executive bran- ches." BUT EDWARD Petrini of the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM), which played a key role in the draft- ing of the bill, conceded inclu- sion of those exemptions was a matter of "pure political expe- diency." Bullard said his bill is pat- terned after the federal free- dom of information act and will replace a state law which "is toothless and has not worked." Under the bill, government officials on the state and local levels would have to grant a request for documents or ex- plain in writing their reasons for denying it. PERSONS WHOSE requests are denied could take the pub- lic body or agency involved to court and collect reimburse- ment for their costs if they win. The measure lists a number of specific items which must be available to the public, in- cliding information on em- ployes and officials, reports and studies communications be- tween and within agencies in- cluding "drafts, notes, recom- mendations and memoranda" and minutes of meetings. The release of internal memoranda before a decision is made on the subject they deal with is opposed by the s t a t e Department of Commerce. J E F F G R A H A M of the department told the com- ittee this would inhibit the breadth of discussion and the frankness of discussion at the staff level. Petrini said the public has a right to see staff recommenda- tions before a final decision is made. "The real decisions in most agencies are made by the staff," he said. A number of documents are exempted from d i s c l o s u r e under the act including person- al information when release would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy." - Police documents would be exempt if release would inter- fer with police activities or violate someone's right to privacy or to a fair trial. Trade secrets, bids and land appraisals also would be exempted. Brezhnev addresses world communists RATHSKELLER Mustards Retreat Friday and Saturday Evenings, no cover. BERLIN (AP) - Soviet Lead- er Leonid Brezhnev took a con- ciliatory stand toward European Communists seeking a more in- dependent association with Mos- cow but still emphasized that the international Communist movement is "a powerful and tested tool." The Soviet party chief, in a keynote speech at a conference of 29 European Communist par- ties yesterday, conceded, "Ev- ery Communist party is born of the working-class movement of the country in which it is ac- tive. "AND IT IS responsible for its actions first of all before the working people of its own coun- try, whose interests it expresses and defends." "But." he said, "it is precise- ly this that provides the basis for the Communists' internation- al solidarity." Brezhnev's careful handling of the issue of independence within the international Communist movement reflected the long wrangling before the European parties could get together fol- lowing Moscow's original pro- posal of the conference in Oc- tober 1974. HE TOLD the delegates meet- dog in the Golden Hall of the 40-story City of Berlin Hotel that no one sought to establish an organizational center for Communists. Observers said Brezhnev's ap- proach seemed an admission that Moscow no longer could exert the kind of monolithic in- fluence it once enjoyed in the world Communist movement. But he still reminded the con- ference that "We believe .. . comradely solidarity, of which the Communists have been the standard-bearers for more than 100 years now, preserves all its great significance also in our time." HE TOLD the delegates all Communist parties must recog- nize the primary tasks of re- placing capitalism with social- ism wherever possible. In his first appearance out- side the Soviet Union this year, Brezhnev said the Soviets place great value on improving rela- tions with the United States. He appeared healthy in his public appearances here and fol- lowed a rigorous schedule in un- usual heat that reached 90 de- grees. Brezhnev, 69, has repeat- edly been rumored to be ill, most recently when he skipped three national party congresses in Eastern Europe. The Soviet party chief claim- ed the stalled second round of strategic arms limitation talks with the United States was not being delayed by the Kremlin and emphasized Moscow re- mains prepared to reach a new agreement. Great Buffet for a buck eighty-five 11 to 1 :30 Tuesday thru Friday. _ Two for One Cocktail Hour, Tuesday thru Friday, 4 to 6 215 N. MAIN, ANN ARBOR - 663-7758 - -U - a:. .m m . . .. .r:a.r. . ik NE -TONIGHT- HAPPY HOUR HALF-PRICE on man ALL DRINKS :so 8-10:30 15c HOT DOGS every Friday from 2-5 p.m., while they last. HALF PRICE ON BEER, Tuesdays 8-Midnight. " NO COVER Ym UNI 310 MAYNARD HAPPY HOUR at Bicycle Jim's takes the "Blue" out of Monday (and every other day) DROP IN TODAY , '' le MIXED DRINKS 1.00 3-6 P.M. Monday-Friday also serving lunch 1 1 a.m. 1301 S. University at Forest