A Senate committee gave unanimous approval to a bill that deals with some of the issues raised in last year’s explosive rewrite of Utah’s open records law.
"This is a group effort to bring this forward," said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, the sponsor of SB177. He said the bill deals only with issues where there was consensus among legislators, administration appointees, media representatives and the public.
 |
Join the Discussion |
 |
Post a Comment |
Last year the Legislature passed HB477, which imposed a series of restrictions on public records, including putting text messages and certain other records off limits.
The new bill would clarify the balancing test used to determine what records are public versus private. It states that personal notes unrelated to public business are not subject to records requests and protects records subject to pending litigation.
The bill also would create an annual online training course for records officers and would establish a public-records ombudsman. It does not touch on text messages or voice mail, which Bramble said are subject to disclosure if they deal with the public’s business.
Robert Gehrke
Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
