For the second year running, state legislators worried about terrorists are seeking to revise open government laws, conducting a piecemeal but wide-ranging examination of the states’ freedom of information measures.

The proposed changes are being watched closely by civil libertarians and media groups, which complain about proposals so broad they would close access to far more than information about security issues. But compromises seem to be emerging.

At least 15 states have considered such legislation. So far, five of those, including Oklahoma, have passed laws to tighten public access to documents or meetings, but most have yet to finish their legislative sessions.

Last year, 21 states approved measures to keep from public view information that was deemed important to security, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press found in a March study.

Lawmakers say they are listening to the worries of open government activists, but add that there’s a need for balance between public information and safety. The ongoing threat of terrorism can’t be ignored, they say.

“It has changed the way we think about security,” said Texas GOP state Rep. Ray Allen, author of a bill to keep details about emergency responders, the location of surveillance cameras and utilities’ response plans all secret.

Among other new proposals under consideration:

l Nevada would allow the governor to keep certain documents about preventing or responding to terrorist attacks confidential. These include emergency radio frequencies, emergency response plans and vulnerability assessments. The bill is moving ahead.

l Vermont would sharply restrict public access to architects’ plans for public buildings. The proposal has passed both the House and Senate and a conference committee is working out differences on specific language.

l Arkansas police chiefs got a law passed that makes secret a list of material, including threat assessments and training plans. Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee opposed a similar effort by the state Emergency Management Department last year.

With the United States at yellow alert for terrorism and Americans killed in a Saudi Arabian bombing May 12, Allen said, the public doesn’t need to know the keys to emergency responder radio frequencies, or the location of water flow valves at nuclear plants.

Critics counter that existing laws already provide enough exemptions to provide for security concerns, and that, while lawmakers try to respond to public fears, they also are weakening important protections for a free society.

“Too much information is being locked up,” said Rebecca Dougherty with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “We have not seen terrorists filing freedom of information requests for open records in the past, and we will not see that in the future.”