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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 26, 2023 12:06 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Brennan |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Protecting Private Parties and Public Safety in Right-to-Know Requests |
| As a Right-to-Know (RTK) officer for nearly two decades under both modern statutes, I’ve seen the current RTK law provide unprecedented and much needed transparency and oversight. Under the current law, all records in government possession are presumed public. Unfortunately, a vague RTK request can create a responsibility for a RTK officer to review potentially tens of millions of records in a five-day period with a single thirty-day extension. This could make an actual good faith review of the requested records impossible. However, in addition to public records, documents may contain the information of private individuals, information that is protected by statute, and information that, if released, could harm public safety. For example, records in public possession may disclose the sexual orientation of a child, security weaknesses of a public building, intimate details of a purely personal family trip, national security details, personal health information, computer security flaws, bank account numbers, public contract pre-open bid proposals, proprietary information, trade secrets, and/or criminal records. The disclosure of this information could subject an agency to massive financial penalties. Additionally, government agencies have a responsibility to protect the privacy interests of private individuals, to comply with laws, and to protect public health, safety, and welfare. Vague requests often force a RTK officer to review massive amounts of unresponsive records in an impossibly short period. Unfortunately, this is sometimes done purposely by vexatious requestors. This risks disclosing the information of private parties, violating other laws, and harming public safety. It can also lead to massive burdens that shut down government operations, undermine timely access for other requestors, and create massive unfunded costs for an agency. That is why I will be introducing legislation to allow agencies to consider such risks and burdens in determining the specificity of a request. This will allow a full good faith review, will remedy these problematic requests, and will create a more timely and efficient process for the vast majority of requestors. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1755