Police could bypass KY open records law more easily under House bill nearing final passage
Kentucky lawmakers are preparing to carve a bigger loophole in the state Open Records Act that would shield crime incident reports, 911 tapes and other documents from public view at the discretion of police departments.
Under House Bill 520, police departments would be entitled to withhold records if they believe disclosure “could pose a risk of harm to the agency or its investigation,” either by prematurely revealing information about a case or by potentially identifying witnesses or informants.
Open government advocates warn the bill gives police too much independent power to decide when — or if — they will release public safety records in their possession.
“It is rarely curiosity — almost never a desire to compromise an investigation or disrupt law enforcement’s essential functions — that drives the public to submit open records requests for law enforcement records,” the Kentucky Open Government Coalition said in a statement criticizing the bill.
“It is far more often the public interest in ensuring that law enforcement agencies are properly executing their statutory functions, in gauging the threat to community safety and, in the most compelling cases, in enabling a grieving family to search for and find answers in the face of official silence over long years,” the coalition said.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Thursday approved House Bill 520 and sent it to the Senate floor for further action.
The committee briefly killed the bill, with senators citing concerns over a lack of transparency. But state Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester, flipped from a “no” to a “yes” vote just as the meeting ended, allowing it to narrowly slip past the committee with a 6-to-4 vote for approval.
Currently under the open records law, police departments can withhold individual records — not an entire case file — if they can demonstrate how the release of those specific records would harm ongoing work on a case.
Court decisions have narrowed this exemption so police can’t give blanket denials to records requests by citing “pending” investigations.
Most recently, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled last year for the Courier Journal in its fight for 911 tapes and other records about a deadly high-speed car crash involving police in the city of Shively.
“Intelligence and investigative reports maintained by criminal justice agencies are subject to public inspection if prosecution is completed or a determination not to prosecute has been made,” the court said, quoting the law, in its Shively decision.
“The agency must articulate some factual basis for applying the exemption that bears on the record’s content,” the court said.
However, the House bill would expand the law enforcement exemption, as requested by lobbyists for the Kentucky League of Cities, the Kentucky Police Chiefs Association and the Kentucky Sheriffs Association.
Instead of having to provide concrete evidence of how release of a specific record would compromise an ongoing investigation, under the bill, “if the agency states that the disclosure of the information could pose a risk of harm to the agency or its investigation,” that would be sufficient.
The phrase “could pose a risk of harm” was too loose a standard for some members of the Senate committee Thursday.
“I do appreciate what you’re trying to accomplish here,” state Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, told the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies.
“I think that word ‘could’ is too subjective in my mind,” Tichenor said. “It just depends on who’s gonna look at this case. And considering how long cases can be open, we’re leaving people (who want) transparency just hanging.”
At the House committee hearing held on the bill Feb. 27, state Rep. Joshua Watkins, D-Louisville, said the bill concerned him because the Louisville Metro Police Department has a long history of serious misconduct that has been exposed in part because of news reporting that relied on the open records law.
Citizens don’t just want records about crime, Watkins said, they also want to see what their police officers are doing behind the scenes and what actions are being taken when officers are suspected of wrongdoing.
Police misconduct cases shouldn’t necessarily be handled in public, Fugate told him.
“We should have no room for misconduct,” said Fugate, a former Kentucky State Police detective. “But I also believe that the officers who may be involved, that investigation should be kept from open records based on the fact that you want to make sure that if there’s a bad actor ... keeping that investigation confidential is important.
“But as soon as it’s ready to be released, release it.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 2:22 PM.
