HCS SCS SB 1020, 889 & 869 -- OPEN RECORDS LAW

SPONSOR:  Steelman (Goodman)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Special Committee on
General Laws by a vote of 9 to 0.

This substitute makes changes to the Open Records Law.  In its
main provisions, the substitute:

(1)  Includes the curators of the University of Missouri and the
Bi-state Development Agency in the definition of "public
governmental body."  The substitute clarifies that public
meetings include meetings held through conference calls, video
conferences, and similar methods and that public votes include
votes made by telephone and other electronic means. The
definition of "public record" is changed to include documents
prepared by consultants, and the exception pertaining to internal
memos and advisory communications is repealed;

(2)  Restricts roll call votes under certain circumstances to
those who are physically present.  An exception is made for roll
call votes in a committee;

(3)  Requires that the notice of meetings held by telephone or
other electronic means identify the mode by which the meeting is
held and provide information on public access.  The substitute
also requires public bodies to permit taping and other electronic
means of recording of their meeting and permits these bodies to
establish guidelines for the recording;

(4)  Requires that a journal or minutes of closed meetings be
taken and retained by public governmental bodies;

(5)  Authorizes public governmental bodies to close meetings,
records, and votes relating to operational guidelines and
policies adopted and maintained by public agencies responsible
for the health and safety for responding to or preventing
terrorist incidents, when the agencies state in writing that
disclosure would impair the agencies' protection duties and
public interest in nondisclosure outweighs public interest in
disclosure.  Information regarding expenditures and contracts
made by agencies in implementing these policies is not exempt.
Voluntarily submitted information from nonpublic entities
concerning infrastructure may be excluded and must be reviewed
and returned or destroyed within 90 days if the information is
not kept.  Both of these exceptions sunset on December 31, 2008;

(6)  Requires that the amount and source of private donations
toward the salary of a chancellor or president of public higher
education institutions be disclosed;

(7)  Requires that all final audit reports by the auditor of a
public governmental body be considered open public records;

(8)  Allows a member of a public governmental body to record an
objection in the minutes to closing a meeting or vote.  The
objecting member then may stay for the meeting or vote, and the
recorded objection will be an absolute defense to any claim
pursuant to Section 610.027, RSMo, providing for actions against
public governmental bodies and their members and the imposition
of monetary penalties;

(9)  Changes the fee for furnishing copies of most public records
from the actual cost of the document search and duplication to 10
cents per page for paper copies up to legal size and, under some
circumstances, the hourly rate of pay for clerical staff;

(10)  Prohibits the custodian of public records that are the
subject of a civil action from transferring custody, altering,
destroying, or otherwise disposing of the records;

(11)  Changes the civil fine of up to $500 and order of payment
of the successful party's costs and reasonable attorney fees to a
civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 and payment of court costs upon
a finding of a purposeful violation of the law by a public
governmental body or its members or a law enforcement agency;

(12)  Requires a court, upon a finding of a knowing violation of
the law by a public governmental body or its members or a law
enforcement agency, to impose a civil penalty of $25 to $250 and
permits the award of court costs;

(13)  Provides that, in determining the amount of the penalty for
a violation of the law by a public governmental body or its
members or a law enforcement agency, the court must consider the
size of the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and
whether the public governmental body or its members has
previously violated the laws;

(14)  Requires a public governmental body, when developing an
electronic record-keeping system, to do so in a common format
that is not an impediment to public access and to provide
information in the format requested when it is possible to do so;
and

(15)  Deletes the provision prohibiting law enforcement agencies
from releasing accident or incident reports for 60 days to any
person who is not an interested party.

The substitute has a sunset date of December 31, 2008, for
Section 610.021(18) and (19), which excludes from the Open
Records Law, law enforcement or public safety agencies'
operational guidelines and policies for responding to or
preventing terrorist activities and certain information relating
to security systems and infrastructure.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Cost on General Revenue Fund of Unknown
in FY 2005, FY 2006, and FY 2007.  Unknown losses could exceed
$100,000 in any given fiscal year.  Estimated Effect on Other
State Funds of a cost of More than $8,625 to an income of Unknown
in FY 2005, a cost of More than $10,335 to an income of Unknown
in FY 2006, and a cost of More than $10,867 to an income of
Unknown in FY 2007.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that loopholes exist in the present
Sunshine Law that need to be addressed.  Some loopholes relate to
terrorism, and some relate to practices that have come to light
over the years showing a lack of understanding of the law or a
disregard for it, and some relate to uneven implementation.

Testifying for the bill were Senator Steelman; Missouri Press
Association; Office of the Attorney General; and Missouri
Broadcasters Association.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that several provisions
will have a chilling effect upon persons contemplating filing for
public office in political subdivisions.

Testifying against the bill were Missouri Municipal League;
Missouri School Boards Association; and Municipal League of St.
Louis County.

Becky DeNeve, Senior Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:16 am