House of Representatives

HB 2340

judges' personal information; records exemption

Sponsors: Representative Voss, Senator Richardson

DP	Committee on Judiciary
X	Committee on Retirement and Government Operations
	Caucus and COW
	Third Read
	As Passed the House

HB 2340 prohibits the general public from accessing the personal information of judges.

Current Status

HB 2340 passed the Judiciary Committee unamended.

History

Under current law, a prosecutor or peace officer may request that their personal information be protected from access by the general public. Laws 2001, Chapter 301, Section 1, Section 16-153 added persons protected under an order of protection or an injunction against harassment to those individuals permitted to request this protection from access by the public to their personal information.

In the case of a prosecutor or peace officer, the person must file an affidavit with the presiding judge of the superior court in the county in which the affiant resides requesting the prohibition of public access to the person’s personal information. The presiding judge then must file a petition with a clerk of the superior court and review the petition to determine whether the action requested by the affiant should be granted. If the judge decides to prohibit public access to the personal information, a court order shall be issued prohibiting the county recorder from allowing access to the records for five years.

A law enforcement agency or employing state or local government entity may not disclose the home address or home telephone number from the personnel file of a peace officer or prosecutor. However, the information may be released if the person consents in writing to the release or the custodian of records of the agency or governmental entity determines that release of the information does not create a reasonable risk of physical injury or damage to the property of the person or their immediate family.

Provisions

§ Authorizes justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Appeals, judges or commissioners of a superior court, municipal court judges and justices of the peace in any county to apply for a request that the general public be prohibited from accessing:

ü The unique identifier and the recording date contained in indexes of recorded instruments maintained by the county recorder.

ü The individual’s residential address and telephone number contained in instruments or writings recorded by the county recorder and made available on the Internet.

ü The individual’s residential address and telephone number contained in instruments, writings and information maintained by the county assessor and the county treasurer.

ü The individual’s residential address and telephone number contained in any record maintained by the Motor Vehicle Division.

§ Stipulates that it is unlawful for a person to knowingly make available on the world wide web the personal information of a justice of the Supreme Court, judge of the Court of Appeals, a judge or commissioner of the superior court, a municipal court judge or justice of the peace if the distribution of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the safety of the person or their immediate family and the threat is reasonably apparent to the person making the information available to be serious and imminent.

§ Removes domestic violence victims from those individuals who may request that their personal information contained in their voter registration record be prohibited from access by the public.

§ Repeals one section of a dual enactment relating to confidentiality of voter records.

§ Stipulates that if a person who is employed by a state or local government entity knowingly releases the home address or home telephone number of a justice of the Supreme Court, a judge of the Court of Appeals, a judge or commissioner of a superior court, a municipal court judge or a justice of the peace with the intent to hinder an investigation, cause physical injury or damage to the property of the person or their immediate family is guilty of a Class 6 felony (1 year jail/$150,000 fine).

§ Makes technical and conforming changes.

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45th Legislature

Second Regular Session 3 February 14, 2002

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