Public records exemption sought by cities, utility association clears House State Affairs

The House State Affairs Committee today approved legislation expanding an existing exemption from Idaho’s Public Records Law for “critical infrastructure.” The bill, sought by the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association, was backed by the Association of Idaho Cities and the city of Idaho Falls, which operates a public power system; it was opposed by the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the ACLU of Idaho and the Idaho Press Club.

Idaho already exempts from public disclosure “records of buildings, facilities, infrastructure and systems held by or in the custody of any public agency,” but “only when the disclosure of such information would jeopardize the safety of persons or the public safety.” The existing exemption, created not long after the 9/11 attacks, includes “emergency evacuation, escape or other emergency response plans, vulnerability assessments, operation and security manuals, plans, blueprints or security codes.”

HB 447 changes the law from “would jeopardize the safety” to “could be used to jeopardize the safety.” It also adds “property” to “persons or the public safety,” and adds a lengthy definition of “critical infrastructure.”

Opponents said the “could be used to jeopardize” wording unnecessarily broadened the exemption; backers said the “would jeopardize” standard was too high and too hard to prove.

Will Hart, lobbyist for the utilities association, called the bill “minor” and said it’s important to maintain safety of public facilities from terrorist threats. “We believe that these minor, narrow exemptions to the code are critically important … and that they don’t place an undue burden on the requester,” he told the committee. Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, said, “I think in fact the definition of ‘critical infrastructure’ actually narrows down the type of records that we are looking at.”

Wayne Hoffman of the Idaho Freedom Foundation told the committee that if Idaho were to experience the equivalent of the Flint, Mich. contaminated water crisis, the new exemption would block citizens from getting information about it. Hart said he didn’t think it would, but added, “I’m not a lawyer, I’m not from Michigan.”

Full disclosure here: I’m the current president of the Idaho Press Club. Hoffman represented the Press Club as well as the Freedom Foundation at the committee today. The Newspaper Association of Idaho has taken a neutral position on the bill, and didn’t offer comments at today’s hearing.

The bill won the committee’s support with just two “no” votes, from Reps. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, and Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer; it now moves to the full House.