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Senate amends GRAMA bill, restores 'personal' exemption after debate on email privacy
Summary
Senators removed two lines that raised concerns about making communications to legislators secret and restored the word 'personal' in House Bill 12 to preserve an exemption for private correspondence; the amended bill passed the Senate and was referred to the House.
The Utah Senate voted to amend and advance House Bill 12, legislation that updates the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), after an extended floor debate over electronic communications and constituent privacy.
Senator Jason E. Thomas, sponsor of the floor amendment, told colleagues he moved to strike two lines (lines 4 75 and 4 76) that had been the focus of controversy and to restore the word “personal” into the statutory exemption. “So to restore online 3 25, the word personal,” Thomas said when offering the amendment, explaining that the change was intended to preserve protections for private correspondence with legislators and staff.
Senator Arendt, speaking from the floor, warned of an unintended consequence if the word were not restored: “If you strike lines 4 75 and 4 76, the word personal should be restored because it is existing language. Unless you restore the word, the bill would braid the exemption for correspondence to or from a member of the legislature to include non personal, i.e., public correspondence,” she said, arguing that omission could create a “backdoor means of making secret the communications to legislators that lines 4 75 and 4 76 seek to make secret.”
Other senators raised constituent-protection concerns. Senator Hilliard described multiple email accounts he uses and urged caution to avoid exposing private messages: “I have my email at my office, which is probably 90% business, probably 5% personal… I have a personal email at my home that I only use for my immediate family, and I so far have been able to protect that.” He warned that without clear protections and warnings, “innocent people [could be] seriously hurt.” Senator Hallowell said removing the contested language could be “one of the worst things that we would do up here this year because we are taking away people's right of bridal to talk to their legislator.”
Thomas incorporated the concerns and amended his amendment to restore the word “personal.” The motion to amend was adopted and, after votes on suspension of the rules, the bill as amended passed the Senate (final recorded tally on the floor was 24 yes, 4 no, 1 absent) and was referred to the House for further action.
The debate focused on the balance between open-government objectives and the need to protect private constituent communications to legislators and their staff. Sponsors argued the bill still strengthens records retention and notice requirements and clarifies that personal communications prepared or received by employees in a private capacity are not records. Opponents said the change could chill constituent outreach without procedural safeguards such as automated warnings when citizens email a legislator’s official address.
The Senate’s action removes the specific lines that generated controversy while keeping other GRAMA updates intact; the next procedural step is House consideration of the Senate-amended measure.
