SB 1061 - This act modifies provisions relating to the Sunshine Law. Currently, allowable fees for providing public records includes research time for fulfilling requests. This act includes time spent reviewing records to determine whether or not the records are closed or authorized to be closed. A public body may waive or reduce fees if such waiver or reduction is in the public interest because the applicable fees are minimal and should be waived for administrative efficiency. Payment of copying, search, research and duplication fees may be requested prior to the making of copies or production of records. Mobile video recordings from a law enforcement vehicle or a device carried by a law enforcement officer that includes a camera and recording capability are considered a closed record until the investigation becomes inactive. A mobile video recording in a nonpublic location may be closed, except that any person depicted in the recording or certain other persons may obtain a complete, unaltered and unedited copy of the recording.
The act adds legal guardians or parents of a minor as being able to obtain closed investigative or mobile video records in the same way that any person could obtain such records.
Any person may bring an action to authorize disclosure of a mobile video recording and the court may order that all or part of the recording be released to the person. In making its determination on release, the court shall consider factors outlined in the act, including the benefit to the public as opposed to the harm to the public, to the law enforcement agency or its officers, or to any person identified in the recording. The mobile video recording may be examined by the court in its chambers. If disclosure of either a mobile video recording or an investigative report is authorized, the court may make any order that justice requires and set forth conditions for or limitations on the disclosure as authorized in the act.
The act provides that any person who requests and receives a mobile video recording that was recorded in a nonpublic location is prohibited from displaying or disclosing the recording without first affording any non-law enforcement person whose image or sound is contained in the recording the opportunity to seek a court order enjoining all or some of the display or disclosure. Any person who fails to comply with this provision is subject to damages in a civil action.
JIM ERTLE