COLUMBIA - A series of bills to strengthen the state's open-meetings and records laws have been introduced in the state House.

Rep. Phil Sinclair, R-Spartanburg, filed four bills this week that would target chance meetings that skirt the law, require affidavits when public officials close meetings, shorten the time that public bodies have to respond to requests and cap copying costs.

The measures, filed in the midst of the news media's national recognition of Sunshine Week for open meetings and records, target issues that have created problems that the media and the public have had with South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.

Last year, the South Carolina Press Association, The Associated Press and newspapers throughout the state examined how county councils and school boards conduct closed meetings and how police agencies handle public records.

With the councils and boards, a quarter of the members surveyed said they had been in closed-door meetings where state law was broken because discussions strayed beyond the topics they were allowed to discuss.

"The abuse of executive sessions is the biggest problem we have with the law," said Bill Rogers, executive director of the SCPA.

The audit's findings prompted calls for a change that would require public bodies to sign affidavits after they've used a privilege in the FOI law to bar the public from discussions.

Sinclair's legislation would require all members of a public body to sign an affidavit swearing that they told the public what topics they would discuss and that they discussed only those behind closed doors. If they lie and are convicted, they could be fined $100 and put in jail for up to six months.

The bill should help public bodies take executive sessions seriously and avoid making mistakes, Rogers said.

A related bill would target informal meetings that could be used to skirt the law. Currently, members of a public body can't use social gatherings, e-mail or chance meetings to circumvent the spirit of the law and act on items the public body controls. Under the legislation, public bodies would break the law even if they didn't take action during those encounters.

Last year's FOIA audit also found inconsistent copy fees at law enforcement agencies across the state despite a law that says public documents must be provided at the "lowest possible cost." Journalists seeking copies of police reports had to pay an average of nearly $3 even though the documents often are no more than two pages.

One of Sinclair's bills says government agencies can charge no more for copies than what the local copy shop would charge.

The legislation also would end a practice some government bodies use to deter information requests by charging high fees to search for records.