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

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

(1)  Grants an exception, until June 30, 2006, to the requirement
that a newspaper must have been published regularly for three
years to carry legal notices when a county is served by only one
newspaper that meets all of the other requirements.  This portion
of the bill contains an emergency clause;

(2)  Includes the University of Missouri board of curators and
the Bi-State Development Agency in the definition of "public
governmental body."  The bill 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 records
created or maintained by private contractors under agreements
with public governmental bodies and documents prepared by
consultants;

(3)  Restricts roll call votes in elected public bodies to those
who are physically present, except for committees and the General
Assembly.  In an emergency of the public body, as long as a
quorum is physically present and the reason for the emergency is
recorded in the minutes, absent members may vote by telephone,
Internet, or other means;

(4)  Requires that the notice of a meeting held by telephone or
other electronic means identify the mode by which the meeting is
held and provide information on public access.  The bill also
requires public bodies to permit taping and other electronic
recording of their open meetings and permits these bodies to
establish guidelines for the recording.  Unauthorized audio
taping of closed sessions is a class C misdemeanor;

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

(6)  Allows disclosure of the amount and source of private
donations toward the salary of a chancellor or president of
public higher education institutions;

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

(8)  Authorizes public governmental bodies to close meetings,
records, and votes relating to operational guidelines and
policies adopted and maintained by public agencies responsible
for health and safety for responding to or preventing terrorist
incidents, when the agencies state in writing that disclosure
would impair their 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;

(9)  Allows a member of a public governmental body to record an
objection to closing a record, meeting, or vote.  The objecting
member may stay for the meeting or vote, and the recorded
objection will be an absolute defense to any claim providing for
actions against public governmental bodies and the imposition of
monetary penalties;

(10)  Requires members of public governmental bodies who
electronically transmit messages relating to public business to
two or more members to concurrently transmit the message to the
member's office computer or the custodian of records, when,
counting the sender, the message is sent to a majority of the
body's members;

(11)  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, with the hourly fee for duplicating not to exceed the
average hourly rate of pay for clerical staff.  Based on the
request, the research and duplication must be done using
employees that produce the lowest charge, and an estimate of
charges must be furnished if requested.  Charges for nonstandard
size paper, electronic media, blueprints and similar materials,
or for special requests are set at the actual cost;

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

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

(14)  Requires a court, upon a finding of a purposeful violation
of the law, to impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 and court
costs;

(15)  Requires, in determining the amount of the penalty for a
violation, the court to consider the size of the jurisdiction,
the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or its members have previously violated the
laws;

(16)  Requires a public governmental body when developing an
electronic record-keeping system to do so in a format that is not
an impediment to public access and to provide information in the
format requested when it is possible to do so.  The format must
permit viewing and printing;

(17)  Removes the provision prohibiting law enforcement agencies
from releasing accident or incident reports for 60 days to any
person who is not an interested party; and

(18)  Requires school districts that have Internet web sites to
post their current policy manual and handbook.

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