The personal information of public officials could be seeing better protection soon. The Kentucky Senate has voted 24-8 in favor of legislation to add protections regarding personal identifiable information for public officials.
The measure would allow public officers to request such info like an address or name of immediate family member be designated as confidential and not publicly posted. Wilder GOP Senator Will Schroder voted yes.
“You know I think everything we do down here is a balancing test and in this case, we’re balancing some of this information with safety of individuals,” said Schroder.
Bill Sponsor GOP Senator Danny Carroll told colleagues over the past five years there’s been a 400% in the threats to federal judges. He said the line-of-duty deaths of police officers last year were the highest since 1995.
Lawrenceburg GOP Senator Adrienne Southworth voted no, saying it represents a reversal of traditional open records policy.
“So it’s not the public servant’s decision exactly which information should be exempt, or when they want it to be exempt because of a fear of potentially very legitimate reasons. That’s a public decision,” said Southworth.
Carter County Democratic Senator Robin Webb says such personal information is already available online through certain services.
A spokesman for the Kentucky ACLU said Senate Bill 63 would restrict Kentuckians’ freedom of speech and make it impossible for local news outlets to report accurate information.
