Committee pauses bill that would limit dissemination of criminal rap sheets
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Summary
After extensive testimony from state police, clerks, defense attorneys and civil‑rights groups about federal CJIS rules and public‑records consequences, HB 91 — which would restrict public dissemination of certain criminal-history records — was voluntarily deferred for more stakeholder work.
Representative Wiley presented HB 91 as a bill focused on discovery in criminal cases and on restricting unlawful public dissemination of criminal-history records (often called rap sheets). "This bill addresses the improper sharing of criminal history record information used during court proceedings," Lieutenant Jared Sandifer said, and Lieutenant Marcus Smith added that criminal-history records in the State Police database are protected by federal CJIS policies and state law and should not be publicly distributed.
Defense and civil‑liberty witnesses, including Megan Garvey (Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) and Sarah Whittington (ACLU of Louisiana), urged caution. Garvey warned that codifying limits could conflict with constitutional disclosure obligations (Brady/Giglio) and confuse prosecutors and judges about what must be turned over; Whittington said trial records are public and that the bill, as written, risked constitutional problems.
Clerks of court representatives also testified that once documents are filed with clerks they become public records by statute, which raised practical concerns about how to prevent public dissemination.
Given the range of implementation and constitutional questions, Representative Wiley agreed to "press the pause button" and the committee accepted a motion to voluntarily defer HB 91 so sponsors and affected stakeholders can refine language.
