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Senate panel advances bill to seal case, warrant and subpoena records after filing
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to move Senate Bill 204, which would require case, warrant and subpoena information to be sealed when a criminal or juvenile offender case is filed and a warrant is sought; the bill was amended to explicitly permit disclosure to law enforcement for execution of warrants and subpoenas.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on a voice vote advanced Senate Bill 204, which would require that when a criminal or juvenile offender case is filed and an arrest warrant is sought the case, associated warrant information and subpoenas be sealed until the warrant is executed or denied.
Proponents told the committee the change is intended to close gaps created by the state's new Odyssey court management system and to protect victims, witnesses and law enforcement. "This is an important bill that basically plugged some holes from issues created from the new statewide court management system called Odyssey," said Steve Howe, Johnson County District Attorney. He said the change would prevent public disclosure of information that makes it obvious a warrant exists and could jeopardize safety.
Mark Bennett, District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District, echoed that the bill would keep victim addresses, medical and financial records and similar sensitive material out of publicly accessible records while preserving prosecutors' and defense counsel's ability to obtain information through discovery. Ed Klump of the Kansas Sheriffs Association asked that the bill explicitly allow disclosure of subpoena information to law enforcement so sheriffs can serve subpoenas; the committee adopted an amendment to add law-enforcement access for subpoenas.
The committee also adopted an amendment, offered by Senator Titus, to make warrant and subpoena information available to law enforcement for executing their duties. With that change, the committee voted to move SB 204 favorably out of committee.
Supporters provided written proponent testimony from local domestic-violence service providers including Wichita-area organizations and written neutral and opponent testimony from others; the transcript lists written testimony from Michelle McCormick of the Kansas Coalition Against (text redacted in the record) and Shane Rolfe of the Kansas Bail Agents Association.
Committee members were told by proponents that no substantive technical cost is expected: changing the Odyssey configuration to mark the records nonpublic was described as a system toggle by a proponent. The bill also would apply retroactively to currently pending cases and subpoenas, according to the reviser's brief.
