A bill that would have opened the texts and emails of school board members and other political subdivision representatives failed in its bid to get through a Senate legislative committee.
Senate State Affairs committee members voted 5-2 to defer House Bill 1153, which would include electronic text colloquy on the list of public records that may be reviewed by the public when accusations of open meeting violations are made and requires retention of the records for one year, to the 41st legislative day.
The bill had previously passed the House of Representatives.
ASBSD Lobbyist Dick Tieszen said the bill fogged the issue of what’s a public meeting and what’s a public record and bill could lead to an invasion of privacy.
ASBSD opposed the bill.