While AWC supported several amendments to the Public Records Act this year, only one managed to make it through the legislative process.
HB 1934 clarifies an existing PRA exemption protecting employee identifying information in workplace discrimination or harassment investigation records. The bill makes it clear that other types of personally identifiable information like images, employee job titles, email addresses, and phone numbers should also be redacted and any voice recordings be altered to make them unrecognizable before being disclosed in a PRA request. AWC supported the bill.
Several other PRA-related bills supported by AWC failed to make it through however. This includes HB 1765, which would have exempted local government newsletter email distribution lists from disclosure, and HB 1964, which would have required PRA requesters to declare that their request is for a noncommercial purpose. We hope that these issues can gain traction in 2026.
Bill # | Description | Status |
|---|
HB 1934 | Clarifies PRA harassment/discrimination investigation records exemption | Law; Effective July 27, 2025 |
SB 5049 | Sunshine committee meetings | Law; Effective July 27, 2025 |
HB 1055 | Studying creation of a state transparency ombudsman office | Did not pass |
HB 1765/
SB 5707 | Exempting local govt newsletter email lists | Did not pass |
HB 1964 | PRA noncommercial use declarations | Did not pass |