Unfortunately the administration’s reason for dropping the bill did not appear to arise from a commitment to the public’s right-to-know. The Governor’s office explained that she believes “government can work with the news media to ensure that information posing a threat…is not disclosed.” The administration claims one of the factors in dropping the bill is that the Montana news media is demonstrating responsible new methods of determining what information to release to the public, and therefore additional measures are unnecessary. It is vital to the public’s right-to-know that this bill, and numerous others like it around the country, do not see fruition. It is even more important that lawmakers and government officials recognize the importance of open government and make a commitment to protect public access to information, a realization which Martz seems to have fallen short of at this point.