Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney proposed a scaled-back public records exemption bill today to replace HB 388, the bill he got introduced earlier, which didn’t advance, to make secret all email addresses and cell phone numbers submitted to the Secretary of State’s office as part of filings under the Sunshine Law or voter registrations. Tim Hurst, chief deputy secretary of state, told the House State Affairs Committee, “Just to show that we do in fact listen to what you say and some other people have to say, we’re bringing forth” a new version. “We listened to some of the concerns that people had and we think this addresses those concerns,” Hurst said.

The new version, which the committee voted to introduce, “only protects the cell phone number and the personal email account for voters,” who are asked to submit those as part of their voter registration, including the new online registration that’s in the works. “As far as the lobbyists and political treasurers and candidates who file with our office under Title 67 chapter 66, the Sunshine Law, all we’re doing is protecting the personal cell phone number for anyone who gives us a home number and a business number. So the media and other folks still have the ability to contact those people by other means.”

Hurst said people filing Sunshine reports, including campaign finance reports and lobbyist disclosure reports, would be asked to provide home and business phone numbers along with a personal cell phone number; if they don’t provide the home and business numbers, the personal cell phone number wouldn’t be exempt. “This would give us the ability to have their personal cell phone number so we can contact them when they file a report and we find there’s a mistake, we can get it corrected before it’s posted,” Hurst said. “I think it’s a better piece of legislation.”

The committee voted to introduce the new version of the bill.