Laws have been on the books in New York and across the country for decades to compel government compliance with requests for public information. Yet hurdles remain evidenced by this newspaper’s efforts to obtain payroll information from 36 municipalities in Monroe and Ontario counties.

The difficulty experienced in testing the state’s Freedom of Information Law, as part of national Sunshine Week, showed the need to make the disclosure process smoother.

State lawmakers should get behind a proposal that would establish uniform standards for reporting and posting payroll and other public information. Such a proposal is scheduled to be unveiled this week by Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank based in Albany.

While all 36 contacted communities responded to the Democrat and Chronicle’s payroll requests, most didn’t comply with the specifics. Clarkson, for example, provided more than 600 pages of copied weekly pay stubs. Consequently, the newspaper, which spent more than $1,700 on its efforts, could build a searchable database that features the payroll records of only 17 municipalities.

State Sen. George Maziarz is just one of scores of state lawmakers who insist they want more transparency in government. He should sponsor the Empire Center’s worthwhile proposal, which would require government entities to feed requested information into a uniform system. The information then would be posted on their websites for the convenience of taxpayers.

Compiling and disseminating public information need not be the headache that too many make the process. Albany must provide relief.

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