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Minutes for HB2700 - Committee on Government, Technology and Security
Short Title
Requiring redaction of social security numbers in documents available for public inspection and copying.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 19, 2018
The Chair called the meeting to order and requested that Staff Jenna Moyer brief the Committee on HB2700.
Ms. Moyer explained that the bill would provide a redaction option in the statutes, an additional layer of protection for personal information in documents that become public (Attachment 1). Responding to a question, she replied that current statutes prohibit releasing documents that contain Social Security numbers or other personal information.
The Chair opened the hearing on HB2700.
Proponents:
Representative Esau testified in support of the bill (Attachment 2). Noting the last four digits on the Kansas Secretary of State's website regarding a legislator's Statement of Substantial Interest, he said the bill is an additional step beyond the present statutes to protect the public.
Neutral
Sarah Hopkinson, Deputy Special Counsel to the Chief Justice, noting Supreme Court Rule 123 and other directives regarding court records that limit disclosure of personally identifiable information, stated that the bill would require additional staff and significant costs to comply fully with the stipulations of the bill. She included a amendatory language that would address the court's concerns (Attachment 3).
The Chair referenced written-only neutral testimony from Mark Skoglund, Executive Director, Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission (Attachment 4).
Opponents:
None
Members raised questions about possible costs imposed on local entities by complying with the proposed bill.
The Chair closed the hearing on HB2700.
A motion was made by Representative Esau and seconded by Representative Resman to consider the bill favorable for passage.
Representative Esau moved to amend the bill to clarify that the bill applies only to public documents, not to all documents. The motion was seconded by Representative Pittman (Attachment 5). After some discussion, Representative Esau withdrew the amendment.
Representative Esau moved and Representative Becker seconded to amend the bill by applying the exemptions of paragraph 1 to paragraph 3 (Attachment 6). Members commented that the bill may have unintended consequences and costs for local entities. Representative Becker commented that the Kansas Association of Counties contacted him in support of the amendment but did not have time to submit testimony. The amendment passed.
Members further discussed the bill. Responding to a question, Ms. Moyer replied that the bill does not address the question of retroactivity.
The motion to consider HB2700 favorable for passage as amended passed.
The Chair asked members to be considering topics for the Committee to explore after Turnaround.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:46 a.m. No further meeting was scheduled.
