JUDICIAL PRIVACY ACT (SECTIONS 476.1300 TO 476.1313)

This act modifies the Judicial Privacy Act by providing for the regulation of the use of personal information of certain court-related officers, including circuit clerks, court administrators, deputy circuit clerks, division clerks, municipal clerks, juvenile officers, chief deputy juvenile officers, and any employee of a prosecuting or circuit attorney.

The act provides that the Judicial Privacy Act shall not apply to personal information present in records of court proceedings on the statewide court automation system (Missouri Case.net). Additionally, under this act, no person, business, or association shall publicly post or display on the internet a judicial officer's personal information if such person, business, or association has received a written request, rather than if the judicial officer has provided written consent or made a written request.

These provisions are identical to SCS/HCS/HB 615 (2025) and substantially similar to HCS/HB 1457 (2025).

SUNSHINE LAW (610.021 and 610.026)

This act authorizes additional bases to close public meetings and records under the Sunshine Law. Currently, certain individually identifiable customer records of a municipally owned utility may be closed. This act adds customers of a utility operated by a political subdivision created in St. Louis City or St. Louis County. Any portion of a record that contains individually identifiable information of a minor under eighteen years of age held by a city, town, village, or park board may be closed, provided that such record shall be made available to Division of Labor Standards for purposes of enforcing child labor laws. Customer information for visitors to a Missouri state park, a county or municipal park, or state historic site regarding a lodging reservation, except for the municipality and zip code of the visitor, may be closed unless requested by the visitor. Finally, records to protect the specific location of an endangered plant or animal species may be closed when the known location may cause the species to be at an increased risk of peril.

This provision is identical to SB 788 (2025).

Currently, payment of copying fees may be requested prior to the making of copies. This act modifies this provision so that payment of any fees may be requested prior to fulfilling the request. Except as provided in the act, a request for public records to a public governmental body shall be considered withdrawn if the requester fails to remit all fees within ninety days of a request for payment of the fees by the public governmental body. The public body shall include notice to the requester that the failure to remit the fees within ninety days shall result in the request being considered withdrawn. If a public body responds to a records request in order to seek clarification of the request and no response to the clarification request is received within ninety days, then such request shall be considered withdrawn. The request for clarification shall include notice to the requester that the request shall be considered withdrawn if there is no response within ninety days. If the same or a substantially similar request for records is made within six months of the expiration of the sixty day period and no fee was remitted for the original request or no response to the request for clarification was received, then the public body can request payment of fees made for the original request. If the requested fees are greater than $1,000, then the request shall be considered withdrawn if the requester fails to remit all fees within 150 days. Further, any request for records that is pending on August 28, 2025, shall be considered withdrawn if all fees are not remitted by January 1, 2026.

This provision is substantially similar to a provision in SCS/SB 174 (2025).

JIM ERTLE