Police get bigger open records loophole in bill Gov. Beshear allows to become law
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is letting a bigger loophole for law enforcement agencies in the Kentucky Open Records Act become law without his signature.
Beshear’s office filed House Bill 520 with the secretary of state on Wednesday without his signature or veto.
The bill lowers the government’s burden of proof when it wants to withhold crime incident reports, 911 tapes, investigative files and other related law enforcement documents.
Instead of having to provide specific evidence to show how releasing a record to the public definitely would imperil an ongoing investigation, as is currently required, police or other public agencies merely would have to say that disclosure could “pose an articulable risk of harm” to them or their pending casework.
Apart from local and state police, the bill covers records held by public agencies that conduct administrative investigations into potential wrongdoing, such as the state’s inspectors general and regulatory and licensing boards.
Supporters of the bill said the broader exemption is necessary to safeguard ongoing investigations.
“This change makes the burden more reasonable for law enforcement agencies to comply with and protects public safety by ensuring that protected information related to investigations is not prematurely released while law enforcement actions and investigations are ongoing,” said state Sen. Danny Carroll, a former assistant police chief in Paducah, arguing for the bill on the Senate floor.
But critics said the bill was a direct response by police departments to a series of courtroom defeats in open records appeals, most recently a Kentucky Supreme Court decision last year.
In that case, the Supreme Court ruled for the Courier Journal in its fight for 911 tapes, dashboard and body cam footage, and other records related to a deadly high-speed car crash involving Shively police in Jefferson County. Shively police issued a blanket denial to the newspaper’s request for records after the crash, saying there was an active investigation underway.
Unable to prevail in court, police asked the General Assembly to narrow the open records law so they can hold off public scrutiny indefinitely after an incident, warned Amye Bensenhaver, a former assistant attorney general and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
The bill was publicly endorsed by the Kentucky League of Cities, the Kentucky Police Chiefs Association and the Kentucky Sheriffs Association.
