BUFFALO, N.Y. — Moving forward, state and local governments will have to pay legal fees in cases where a judge rules they improperly denied Freedom of Information Law requests. Open government advocates say they hope the new law will create more compliance with rules that were already in place.

In its first year in existence the Buffalo-Niagara Coalition for Open Government has done several reports, including one on response to Freedom of Information Law requests.

"In that study at least the local governments here did a good job. Everyone responded,” coalition President Paul Wolf said.

However, Wolf said that's not always the case and when municipalities or agencies deny a request it's usually the end of the line, regardless of whether the decision was correct.

"An attorney to sue one of these cases is probably going to want $3,000 to $4,000 and not many people can come up with that,” he said.

Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation requiring governments to pay those fees if the court finds an agency had no reasonable basis for denying access to records.

"People felt pretty strongly about this and I think everybody, whether it's organizations, media, or citizens are concerned about transparency in government,” said state Sen. Pat Gallivan (R-59).

Gallivan, the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, said the main goal of the new law is to influence agencies to comply more often with Freedom of Information rules.

"If this results in full compliance as it relates to the Freedom of Information laws by various state agencies, there will be no additional cost to citizens. Ironically, there will be less of a cost because the state won't have to have attorneys in court either,” he said.

The governor vetoed a similar bill two years ago and although he approved it this year voiced similar concerns the new rule does not apply to the state Legislature.

"The state Legislature should be subject to these same penalties and procedures so that is a concern that the governor has pointed out and hopefully that can be addressed in the future,” Wolf said.

Gallivan said the intent was to fix a particular problem, not overhaul the entire law. He said if concerns remain the Legislature could look at further reform but he believes the new law will address many of the issues people have with compliance in New York.