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Minutes for SB70 - Committee on Judiciary
Short Title
Providing for reasonable fees for electronic copies of records under the open records act, exempting from disclosure formally closed investigations with no found violations, requiring county or district attorneys to file reports of violations with the attorney in December instead of January, determining the membership calculation of subordinate groups under the open meetings act, requiring public bodies or agencies that live stream meetings to ensure that the public is able to observe and providing for a five minute deviation to resume an open meeting at the conclusion of executive sessions.
Minutes Content for Wed, Mar 12, 2025
Chair Humphries opened the hearing on SB70.
Jason Thompson, Office of Revisor of Statutes, presented the bill brief. (Attachment 1)
Proponent Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute, testified that the Institute worked with the Kansas Register of Deeds Association to reconcile differences between HB2134 as amended and SB70. Adding the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) Language in SB70 to HB2134 as amended, would allow the Kansas Register of Deeds Association to recoup their actual costs in response to Open Records requests. (Attachment 2)
The Chair drew attention to Proponent Written Only testimony:
Audrey Anderson, Kansas Register of Deeds Association (Attachment 3)
There is no Opponent testimony.
Neutral Conferee John Goodyear, League of Kansas Municipalities, testified that they worked with the Kansas Policy Institute and other groups, to make this bill more workable for people requesting records, while still retaining the ability for public agencies to charge for the actual cost of providing the records. He requested that the Committee consider amending SB70 by removing Section 1 and replacing it with HB2134. He also requested that SB70, Section 5 be amended to require that public agencies who stream/broadcast their meetings be required to stream/broadcast all aspects of the meetings. (Attachment 4)
Neutral Conferee Missy Leavitt, a Private Citizen, shared her personal experience concerning requesting Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) records as an election integrity advocate and researcher. (Attachment 5)
The Chair drew attention to the Neutral Written Only testimonies:
Matthew Bingesser, Office of the Attorney General (Attachment 6)
Jay Hall, Kansas Association of Counties (Attachment 7)
Michael Koss, City of Overland Park (Attachment 8)
Angela Stallbaumer, Kansas Association of School Boards (Attachment 9)
Chair Humphries closed the hearing on SB70 at 4:08pm.
