The Senate State Affairs Committee has unanimously agreed to refer HB 447, a proposed expanded public records exemption for records of “critical infrastructure,” to the Senate’s 14^th Order for amendments, after Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis brought together a group of stakeholders and committee members to hammer out differences over the bill.

The bill expands a current exemption from the Idaho Public Records Act for “records of buildings, facilities, infrastructure and systems held by or in the custody of any public agency,” but “only when the disclosure of such information would jeopardize the safety of persons or the public safety.” The existing exemption, created not long after the 9/11 attacks, includes “emergency evacuation, escape or other emergency response plans, vulnerability assessments, operation and security manuals, plans, blueprints or security codes.”

HB 447 changes the law from “would jeopardize the safety” to “could be used to jeopardize the safety.” It also adds “property” to “persons or the public safety,” and adds a lengthy definition of “critical infrastructure.” Backers said it would protect against terrorists getting sensitive information through public records requests.

Opponents, including the Idaho Press Club – full disclosure here: I’m the Press Club president and I testified against the bill and participated in the discussions about the amendment – and others contended the “could be used to” was too broad for a public records exemption, and also raised other concerns. The stakeholders group, which included representatives of the city of Idaho Falls, the Consumer-Owned Utilities Association, the Idaho Press Club and the Idaho Freedom Foundation, agreed on compromise wording, replacing  “could be used to” with “is reasonably likely to” jeopardize public safety, and adding that the expanded exemption wouldn’t apply to “public expenditure records” such as agency budget documents.

Several members of the committee said they wouldn’t have supported the bill as-is.