House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for SB386 - Committee on Transparency and Ethics
Short Title
Limiting fees for copying and staff time under the Kansas open records act and providing for waiver or reduction of such fees.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 14, 2022
Chairperson Bowers opened the hearing on SB386. Charles Reimer, staff revisor, presented a briefing on the bill. After questions by the Committee were addressed, the hearing continued.
Emily Bradbury testified in support of SB386 providing examples of KORA (Kansas Open Records Act) requests from journalists. Ms. Bradbury pointed out her written testimony included guidelines by the Kansas Attorney General's office. Ms. Bradbury indicated after conversations with the AG's office, they support striking Lines 22 and 23 on Page 2 of the bill. (Attachment 1)
Caleb Smith testified in support of SB386 providing an overview of the examples of fees for KORA requests described in his written testimony. Mr. Smith indicated this bill limits the charging of staff time to the lowest rate of a person qualified to fulfill the request and prevents fees for being charged to see if the record exists. (Attachment 2)
Rachel Schrag Sommerfeld testified in support of SB386. Ms. Schrag Sommerfeld indicated they have seen excessive costs for KORA fees, and it is important to put a limit on those fees. Ms. Schrag Sommerfeld highlighted examples of requested records in her written testimony describing the costs and redactions of pages. (Attachment 3)
Ms. Bradbury and Ms. Schrag Sommerfeld addressed questions from the Committee.
Written testimony in support of SB386 was submitted by:
Mike Kautsch, Private Citizen (Attachment 4)
Dave Trabert, Chief Executive Officer, Kansas Policy Institute (Attachment 5)
Allison Mazzei, President, Kansas Association of Broadcasters (Attachment 6)
Patrick Richardson, Private Citizen (Attachment 7)
Brittany Suszan, Vice President, SpotCrime (Attachment 8)
Michael Koss testified in opposition of SB386. Mr. Koss stated there are already standards for fees in the open records act indicating it can't be above actual cost and it can't be unreasonable. Mr. Koss highlighted an example of a recent request that the City of Overland Park received that involved a matter that involved a lot of litigation. (Attachment 9)
Erik Sartorius indicated while he is testifying as an opponent to SB386, the League of Kansas Municipalities has had some good conversations with the Kansas Press Association on this legislation. Mr. Sartorius noted and explained some provisions of the bill where they believe the bill needs to be modified or clarified. (Attachment 10)
Mr. Sartorius and Mr. Koss addressed questions from the Committee.
Jay Hall provided neutral testimony for SB386. Mr. Hall described an example of a open records request the Kansas Association of Counties received that was handled by their vendor that works with them for their archives. Mr. Hall stated it's important to realize that there is cost involved, not just in receiving the records, but in responding to the record requests whether we find those records or not because that does take some staff time. (Attachment 11)
Clay Barker provided neutral testimony for SB386. Mr. Barker noted there are a couple of provisions in KORA where the fees are vague. Mr. Barker explained there's no specific allocation for attorney fees to be charged, and he believes that needs to be clarified. Mr. Barker also referenced another area that needs clarification is punitive provisions if the information is made public that shouldn't have been, a staff person can be charged for it. (Attachment 12)
Chairperson Bowers closed the hearing on SB386.
Chairperson Bowers announced the Committee will meet on February 15 during the Local Government Committee time. The meeting was adjourned at 10:27 a.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 15, 2022.
