As we headed to press , the Sportsmen ’ s Alliance learned that Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland rescinded Secretarial Order 3368 . That order , enacted in 2018 by David Bernhardt , Secretary of Interior during the Trump administration , promoted transparency and accountability concerning the department ’ s payouts when settling lawsuits . In creating the order , Bernhardt cited the need for transparency as the
|
department had paid $ 4.4 billion in lawsuit settlements from January 2012 to 2017 . These public funds were department-wide and included everything from the Forest Service to U . S . Fish and Wildlife . The order mandated timelines for publication of payouts and created a website that made it easy for citizens to look up and understand where their tax dollars were being spent .
Secretary Haaland ’ s revocation of the order makes it onerous to find and understand these payouts , especially
|
with lack of detail and timeliness , effectively allowing the department to hide them from citizens . While a person can still obtain information on taxpayer-funded lawsuit settlements using Freedom of Information requests , the government often takes months to provide requested information , and often charges a fee for doing so . By contrast , the system scuttled by Haaland required full disclosure to the public as soon as a settlement was reached . Now the mechanism provided by the |
ADOBE STOCK |