Committee hears bill to exempt some scholarly research materials from Public Records Act

State Government & Tribal Relations Committee Chair Mayna opened a Feb. 19 public hearing on House Bill 19-49, which would exempt certain scholarly and research-based communications from disclosure under the state Public Records Act.

Desiree Omley, OPR staff, summarized the bill for the committee: "House Bill 19 49 exempts certain scholarly and research based communications from disclosure under the Public Records Act." She told members the bill would exempt the identity of a human subject when an informed consent protocol guaranteed confidentiality, materials provided to peer reviewers and reviewers' evaluations when those would reveal the reviewer's identity, and research data, computer code, or draft manuscripts created in the conduct of research until they are…