EDITORIAL : OPEN GOVERNMENT IN DANGER; PENDING BILL WOULD MAKE MORE PUBLIC RECORDS SECRET.

POLITICAL cover-up artists who believe they have the right to decide what the public is entitled to know are at it again.

Their vehicle is a little-publicized bill in Sacramento, SB 1430 by state Sen. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, that would prohibit the disclosure of the street addresses of injured workers in proceedings before the Workers Compensation Appeals Board. Advocates, including the California Self-Insurers Association, some attorneys and certain employee organizations, insist this gag law is needed to prevent doctors from soliciting injured workers.

What they neglect to say is that such a law also might make it a lot harder, if not impossible, to uncover abuses in California's once-scandalous workers' compensation program.

And that's not all. The California Newspaper Publishers Association points out that the passage of SB 1430 could set a precedent for more secrecy in administrative agencies and even the courts, since the appeals board is a quasi-judicial agency.

``If records are sealed, these institutions are accountable to no one and without accountability there is no way to determine if justice is served,'' the CNPA said. ``Most importantly, without a guarantee of justice, the public will have no confidence in the system.''

We can see how client chasing by fee-hungry doctors might be a problem. But that's something state regulatory agencies can deal with separately without making it more difficult to hold public officials accountable for their actions.

The Legislature - or Gov. Pete Wilson if SB 1430 gets to his desk - should reject the bill.

Secrecy of this sort has no place in California.