After complaints, Kentucky lawmaker says he will revise controversial open records bill

FRANKFORT — Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, said Friday he is working on changing a controversial bill that opponents said would have dramatically reduced the number of government records the public can view under Kentucky's open records law.

The state's open records law allows members of the public to view documents that shed light on the workings of government at all levels. House Bill 509, which Hodgson introduced Monday, would have limited the kinds of documents subject to open records requests and required government employees to use government-assigned email addresses for official business.

Hodgson is now working to revise the bill in response to concerns from transparency advocates and citizens.

"I want everything that is available now to be available in the future," Hodgson told The Courier Journal.

"My offer was, if you can find a (document) that won't be disclosable under the new law, I'll change the language and that is what we're working on," Hodgson said. "We don't want unintended consequences."

Hodgson said that he has filed open record requests in the past for documents such as government reports, salary databases and "conversations between agencies on various issues." He said it is his intent to continue to make those documents available via the state's open records law.

"I've had conversations with a lot of involved citizens on open records requests. I'm going through very specific ones" he said in response to a reporter's question about whether the changes would keep materials like government emails and police body cam footage publicly available under the open records law.

The potential changes to the bill are a cause for relief for open government advocates.

"The Kentucky Open Government Coalition is hopeful that unified voices from the right and the left, from transparency advocates and public officials who see the danger of abridging the public's right to know, have prompted the sponsors to reconsider HB 509 and to remove the sections of the bill that redefine 'public record,'" said Amye Bensenhaver, co-director of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition and a retired assistant attorney general.

"As currently written, the bill would place many records currently available to the public outside the reach of disclosure, effectively keeping members of the public in the dark about the actions of those who represent them," said Heather LeMire, state director for Americans for Prosperity Kentucky, a conservative and libertarian advocacy group. "We are eager to see new language that preserves the public’s right know what its government is up to, and we appreciate Rep. Hodgson’s willingness to listen."

Hodgson his goal is to "strike a balance" between the public's right to know and individual privacy. He wants to make sure that government officials — from the governor to the local dogcatcher — have their privacy protected so that people will want to work for the government. That's why the bill would mandate that public officials use designated email addresses for their official work or face penalties, he said.

Asked whether the law would prevent citizens or journalists from finding out about an elected official that might use their personal email or phone to arrange a bribe, Hodgson said people could "lawyer up and go sue" if they think that's happened.

"You're giving me a hypothetical situation. I don't know that anybody would send a text message and say give a bribe. People who break the law are a little more clever than that," Hodgson said when asked how the public would know about such activities in the first place without a robust open records law.

The bill is co-sponsored by House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, and Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown. It has yet to be assigned to a committee.

"What's happening right now, I think it's positive," Hodgson said. "Some people have been less than charitable in their comments, but that comes with the territory."

Gerth: Kentucky lawmaker says open records bill doesn’t change anything, so why file it?

Reach Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@courier-journal.com or follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @RebGrapevine.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Rep. John Hodgman to change open records bill after criticism