LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – State lawmakers have eased restrictions in a bill that would change Kentucky’s open records law, dropping a plan to ban some out-of-state news outlets from seeking documents from public agencies.
The new version of House Bill 312, sponsored by Rep. Bart Rowland (R-Tompkinsville), also expands who qualifies as a Kentucky resident when filing records requests. The original measure proposed limiting access to people living in the state or news organizations with a local affiliate.
But the revised bill approved by the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday now lets someone who works in Kentucky but lives in another state seek public records. Also eligible are out-of-state property owners and people “authorized” to represent Kentucky residents.
The committee did not discuss changes that would shield a trove of lawmaker documents from public scrutiny, giving a committee of legislators the ultimate power to decide what to release.
“We haven't even started talking about it,” Sen. Adrienne Southworth (R-Lawrenceburg) said in explaining her vote against the bill. “And that's really actually upsetting that we're the legislature and we can't talk about legislative records.”
Among other things, the bill no longer requires a standard form for records requests, nor does it attempt to bar requests for documents in some lawsuits that could be obtained through the legal discovery route instead.
Its supporters also claim the bill explicitly allows email submissions for documents. Some government agencies have argued that a 2019 law didn't force them to accept emailed requests.
“This has been a good process,” J.D. Chaney, executive director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities, told committee members. “I think discussing with senators as we worked on this bill, it still accomplishes our main objective.”
The cities’ association and other advocates believe changing the law will reduce the burden on small city and county government employees who must sometimes comply with requests from out-of-state entities. The bill would give city councils, school boards and other public agencies five business days to acknowledge requests for documents, or two days longer than in the current law.
The open records provisions were added to an unrelated bill that moved swiftly through the House of Representatives earlier this month, raising concerns from open government watchdogs. The Kentucky Press Association, which helped negotiated the bill, took no position and has argued that its concessions avoided more worrisome changes.
Still, more than 30 news organizations, citizens and other groups co-signed a letter from the Kentucky Open Government Coalition outlining the bill’s potential impact on government transparency.
Amye Bensenhaver, a retired Assistant Kentucky Attorney General who heads the coalition, told lawmakers that the new version of HB 312 is a “substantially better bill.” But she said there are still unanswered questions about how public agencies will prove someone is a Kentucky resident, and she warned the bill may not achieve its goal of lessening the overall workload on open records custodians.
Bensenhaver, whose testimony was cut off after senators moved to vote on the bill, said in an interview after the meeting that she is particularly concerned about the potential changes to legislative records.
The bill defines public records of the legislature as bills and amended bills introduced in the General Assembly; roll calls of votes; committee reports; administrative regulations; salary and expense documents paid to legislators and legislative employees; contracts, receipts and work orders for work on legislative offices; and other information, such as educational materials and meeting notices.
All other requests, according to the bill, would “not be subject to disclosure.” The Legislative Research Commission, made up of House and Senate members, would have the final say if someone challenged the denial of a records request. No legal appeal is possible.
Bensenhaver said the bill essentially lists specific records that can be made public, and “if it’s not on that list, it’s closed.”
If the bill passes, she argued, certain legislative reports into lawmaker corruption or sexual harassment would be kept confidential.
“They’re saying you can’t get those through us,” she said.
The bill cleared the committee on a 7-2 vote, with Sen. Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) joining Southworth’s opposition. It now moves to the Senate floor.
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