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ACLU, privacy advocates and innocence project warn bill would limit public records access and create paywalls
Summary
Opponents told the House Judiciary Committee that HB 314's provisions letting public bodies label "vexatious" requesters, hire private contractors to fulfill voluminous requests, and charge requesters could chill transparency, burden activists and innocence organizations, and allow officials to block access to records.
Several civil-rights and public-interest witnesses told the House Judiciary Committee they oppose House Bill 314, warning that the bill's definitions and contractor-payment provisions would shrink the public's access to government records.
"HB 314 will impact far more people, far more requesters, and will dramatically shrink the ability of Ohioans to learn and know more about how their government and elected officials perform and act," Gary Daniels of the ACLU of Ohio told the committee, arguing…
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