HB 174

## Bill Information

House Bill 174

Title: AN ACT relating to public records and declaring an emergency.

Sponsors: C. Freeland, B. Reed

Date Introduced: 01/07/20

Final Resolution: Not passed; last sent to Senate State & Local Government Committee

## Why it's worth watching

This bill is worth watching because it has already faced some opposition from the public, within the legislature, and from the media, including the KY Press Association, who specifically has questioned the bill’s constitutionality and has regarded the bill as an overstep by the legislature. HB 174 would directly impact the victims of violent crimes, their families, their communities, and all other parties involved in these cases. With increasing number of school shootings occurring across the nation within the past few years, this bill would not only affect the victims of the Marshall County High School shooting of 2018, but would affect all future crime victims in the state.

## Attempts to...

This bill would exclude photographs and videos depicting a person’s death, killing, rape, or sexual assault from the Open Records Act; also known as the Bailey Holt-Preston Cope Privacy Act.

This policy would amend the Open Records Act of 1976 that established a right of access to public records to exclude photos and videos that fall under the criteria described in the legislation. Therefore, if this legislation were to be enacted, all photographs and videos of this nature owned by public agencies would no longer be accessible through and open records request. The measure would also retroactively close all records under these criteria from being access in the future.

Bill sponsor Representative Freeland intends for this bill to protect the privacy of victims and their families who have experienced traumatic and life-altering events that have been photographed or videoed for law enforcement, court proceedings, insurance companies, or other agencies.

## Comparison with other States

Although the Freedom of Information Act mandates which records and federal agencies are subject to transparency, the act allows for states to create their own guidelines for public records. Kentucky currently has 14 exemptions to the Open Records Act, and HB 174 proposes a 15th be added. Kentucky as it stands has some of the most restrictive open record laws behind Massachuesetts and Hawaii.

## Politics

Representative Chris Freeland, representing Marshall County, the site of the Marshall County High School Shooting in 2018, is the primary sponsor of this bill. He created this bill to protect the victims of this incident and their families, as well as others who have been through traumatic or gruesome events from having their photos and videos accessible to the general public and the media beyond the public trial.

Specifically, Representative Freeland created this piece of legislation on behalf of Bailey Holt and Preston Cope, two fifteen-year-old victims of the Marshall County High School shooting. Photographs and videos were released depicting the two children during the incident, and both of the families of the victims were upset that this media was available to the public. Both families reached out to Representative Freeland to propose this bill to close the records depicting their children and other victims of violent crimes.

Representative Brandon Reed is the sole cosponsor of this measure. This does not create for much diversity as Representative Freeland and Representative Reed are both white, male, and members of the Republican party.

As aforementioned, this bill has faced controversy since its proposal in the State Government committee. While the matter passed through the committee with favorable expression, there was notable debate between the legislators on the constitutionality and morality of the bill, specifically from the Democratic legislators in the room. Specifically, a few of these legislators expressed that this bill will keep the public from seeing the reality of the increasing number of school shootings. To them, having open records is an important part of the public's right to know the extent of the crimes, and what some referred to as an"epidemic," occurring in their state.

From outside the legislature, the press in particular has shown some opposition to the measure. Michael Abate, a First Amendment and Media Law attorney from Louisville testified at the committee meeting on behalf of the KY Press association. He provided three key reasons for the press’s opposition:

1. HB 174 interferes with the separation of powers.
2. HB 174 infringes on first amendment rights and the constitutionality is suspect.
3. HB 174 is an overstep by the legislature.

## What Happened

Despite committee-level opposition, HB 174 passed unanimously through the House with the addition of a floor amendment that allowed for some language revision and was referred to the Senate State and Local Government Committee on 03/02/20. HB 174 was given a second reading in Senate State and Local Government on 3/18/20, but due to the the COVID-19 pandemic effect on the state legislature, the measure did not move to full Senate for consideration. However, considering the overwhelming support that the matter eventually garnered in the full House, it is reasonable to predict that the matter will be brought forward again in a later session.

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