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Open government laws, meet modern technology.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez thinks you're going to get along just fine.

Three proposed city ordinances now working their way through the City Council would overhaul the process of obtaining copies of government records with an eye toward the digital.

Those looking for a copy of, say, a department's budget or a week's worth of the city clerk's e-mail might soon be handed a CD rather than a sheaf of paper.

Further encouraging the process, the city wouldn't charge a per-page fee (now 10 cents) but would instead make requesters pay for the actual cost of materials.

The cost of the CD, in other words - likely to be much cheaper.

"It's just very apparent to me that these new technologies create all kinds of possibilities," Chavez said. "The goal is just to keep government as open as possible."

A separate bill requires all city boards and committees post their meeting schedules and minutes online. The plan would affect a host of groups, from the City Council (which already posts everything online) to such small-scale ventures as the Greater Albuquerque Bicycling Advisory Committee.

The bills also:

• Clarify the rules prohibiting a quorum of members of any public board from making decisions or talking policy outside of an open meeting.

• Clarify who is allowed into an executive session.

• Allow members of public boards to participate via telephone in some circumstances.

All together, it puts the city on the cutting edge of transparency in government, said Bob Johnson, the executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

"Think of how many ways in which New Mexico or New Mexico cities are at the . . . bottom of the list," he said. "In this respect, Albuquerque would be right on top."