HCS HB 1445 -- SECURITY FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS

SPONSOR:  Smith

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Civil and
Administrative Law by a vote of 8 to 0.

This substitute exempts from the Sunshine Law:

(1)  Records relating to the protection of government buildings
from terrorist attack;

(2)  Records that would reveal the vulnerabilities of a
government agency's computer system; and

(3)  Computer access codes that would allow disruption of
government services.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that terrorist attacks on our country
have demonstrated the need for the creation of various defense
and evacuation plans to help protect the state from such attacks.
Those plans and preparations could be thwarted by terrorists if
those records were subject to Sunshine Law requests.  The same
rationale applies to records regarding safeguards created to
prevent computer hackers from infiltrating government computer
networks.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Smith; Tim Daniel,
Director, Office of Homeland Security; and Office of the Attorney
General.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that the new exemptions
provide no accountability to the public for tax money budgeted or
expended for security systems and computer systems.

Testifying against the bill was Missouri Press Association.

Richard Smreker, Senior Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:01 am