Committee adopts amendment and advances bill requiring state agencies to comply with federal data requests

Reviser David presented Senate Bill 428 to the committee, which would require the Secretary for Children and Families to respond to written requests from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and impose parallel obligations on the Secretary of Health and Environment for requests from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The bill as drafted would require agencies to comply with written federal data requests within 30 days.

To clarify compliance language, the committee considered an amendment whose key sentence — read by the reviser — states that "the secretary shall comply without conditions or limitations with any written data request from United States Department of Agriculture." The reviser said nearly identical language would be placed in the section for Health and Environment as well. The chair moved the amendment; Senator Thompson seconded; the committee approved the amendment by voice vote and the motion carried.

Committee members discussed enforcement and student‑privacy concerns. Senator Shane noted the bill does not specify remedies if an agency refuses to comply; the reviser agreed the draft contains no explicit enforcement mechanism and said other legal remedies would apply. Senator Holscher voiced concern that the measure could conflict with existing rules protecting student data.

After adopting the amendment, the chair moved to remove the contents of House Bill 2004 and insert the contents of Senate Bill 428 as amended; Senator Thompson seconded and the committee approved the substitution by voice vote. The chair then moved passage of the Senate substitute for HB2004, the motion was seconded by Senator Thompson, and the committee approved the Senate substitute by voice vote. The transcript records voice votes and notes "motion carries"; no roll‑call tallies were provided.

The committee concluded its business and adjourned.