The Vermont House has given final approval to a bill that advocates say will promote more open government.
The bill would prevent the administration from refusing to release records by claiming they were part of the deliberative process of creating government policy.
Before voting on that, though, lawmakers decided the same prohibition should apply to them in the legislative branch.
Critics have argued that the Douglas administration was claiming it was exempt from releasing documents because they were covered by the so-called deliberative process privilege.
The bill now moves to the Senate.