State Sen. Danny Carroll said he will withdraw a controversial bill critics had said would gut the state open records law.
Carroll, a Paducah Republican, said he plans to withdraw the bill Wednesday because of concerns raised by the Kentucky Press Association and others familiar with open records laws over its impact on access to public information.
“We’re just going to take a step back,” he said. “I want to get clear on those concerns.”
Jon Fleischaker, a lawyer for the Kentucky Press Association, the Courier Journal and other media outlets, said Wednesday he was relieved to learn of Carroll’s decision.
“I think it’s the right thing to do and I appreciate the fact that Sen. Carroll has heard our complaints and our comments,” he said.
Fleischaker had said the bill would “eviscerate” Kentucky open records law by restricting access to a host of public material.
Background: Major effort to restrict access to Kentucky open records proposed
Carroll, a former police officer, said that he filed Senate Bill 14 in an attempt to protect personal information of police, firefighters, judges and some other public employees and that it was never his intent to limit access to most public records. (Read more…)