KY House passes bill requiring photo ID to get public records, but with a change
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- House approves bill requiring photo ID with Kentucky address for open records requests.
- Amendment allows mailed, faxed or emailed ID copies; in-person proof not required.
- Sponsor says AI chatbots are overwhelming public agencies with records requests.
The Kentucky House on Friday approved a bill that would require people to submit a driver’s license or other photo identification with their home address when they make a request to public agencies through the state’s Open Records Act.
Lawmakers amended House Bill 567 on the House floor at the sponsor’s request to make one change urged by critics: The bill no longer would require people requesting records by mail, fax or email to drive to the office of a public agency and present their driver’s license in person. Instead, they could send a copy with their request.
Critics wanted to make sure photo identification “would not have to be hand-delivered to the public agency, resulting in a burdensome issue where someone would have to drive from the proverbial Paducah-to-Pikeville to make this request,” said the sponsor, state Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill.
Flannery told his colleagues that AI chatbots are bombarding public agencies with records requests.
Chatbots easily can check the box on agencies’ online records request forms indicating they are Kentucky residents, a requirement the legislature added to the Open Records Act in 2021, he said. Requiring people to show a photo identification with a Kentucky home address should solve that problem, he said.
“This bill with the floor amendment will simply assure that the current law is being enforced,” Flannery said.
Flannery’s amendment also establishes that “news-gathering organizations” generally would remain exempt from the law’s state residency requirements.
The House voted 71-to-19 for the bill with no debate.
Only one lawmaker spoke against it while voting, state Rep. Anne Gay Donworth, D-Lexington.
Donworth said there are probably better ways for public agencies to screen records requests, such as using a CAPTCHA security measure that can tell the difference between humans and automated bots.
“I am very concerned about making sure that people still feel like they have access to our government,” Donworth said.
The Kentucky Open Records Act gives citizens access to most documents and data in the possession of state and local governments, school districts, state universities and other public institutions.
