Missouri House Bill aims to protect minors’ privacy in public records
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- A bill that protects information related to minors is advancing through the Missouri legislature.
Missouri House Bill 145, sponsored by Rep. Bill Falkner, R-St. Joseph, has been debated and perfected. The measure aims to allow public records containing personally identifiable information about minors under 18 held by local public entities to be closed.
Currently, the state's Sunshine Law does not specifically close records containing minors' identifiable information in city, town village or park board records.
“If your child participates in a municipality program, such as a sports program or even student government day, all their information that they have to give to participate is Sunshine(able),” Falkner said.
This includes youth sports leagues, summer camps, library card registrations and student civic engagement activities.
Drawing from his experience as mayor of St. Joseph from 2010-2018, Falkner said feedback from his constituents and involvement with the municipal league led him to create the bill. This is the third appearance of the bill in the House.
Additional amendments expanded the bill to include utility records, county and municipal park records and the locations of endangered species.
“There was also another portion of the bill that stated the state campgrounds. You can't Sunshine request that information because we were thinking Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, they use that camp.”
With seven weeks left in session, Falkner said he is hopeful the bill will pass the House soon and move forward, eventually reaching Gov. Mike Kehoe's desk in time to go into effect later this year.
“I'm confident they will be voted out this week out of the House. and then, like I said, it's on another bill,” Falkner said.
Falkner's bill is joined by HB 59, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-Montgomery, which seeks to exempt individually identifiable customer information of visitors who make camping, lodging or other shelter reservations at state parks or historic sites from mandatory public disclosure.
While HB 145 focuses on protecting minors' privacy in municipal records, HB 59 addresses broader concerns about public records on public grounds. Falkner believes that the success of HB 59 in the Senate will help drive momentum for HB 145’s passage. Falkner has worked to ensure that both bills move concurrently in the Senate.
“That bill is already over on the Senate side, but with this one passing, I will get a senator to help with it on that side of the building to try to move it forward.
