0774S.05C
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SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 174
AN ACT
To repeal sections 610.010, 610.021, 610.023,
610.024, and 610.026, RSMo, and to enact in lieu
thereof five new sections relating to public records
and meetings.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 610.010, 610.021, 610.023, 610.024,
and 610.026, RSMo, are repealed and five new sections enacted
in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 610.010, 610.021,
610.023, 610.024, and 610.026, to read as follows:
610.010. As used in this chapter, unless the context
otherwise indicates, the following terms mean:
(1) "Closed meeting", "closed record", or "closed
vote", any meeting, record or vote closed to the public . If
more than one hundred twenty five years have passed since
the closure of a record by a public governmental body, then
such record shall no longer be considered a closed record ;
(2) "Copying", if requested by a member of the public,
copies provided as detailed in section 610.026, if
duplication equipment is available;
(3) "Public business", [all matters which relate in
any way to the performance of the public governmental body's
functions or the conduct of its business ] the deliberations
of at least the number of individual public governme ntal
body members required to take action on behalf of the public
governmental body where such deliberations determine or
result in the joint conduct or disposition of official
public governmental body business ;
(4) "Public governmental body", an y legislative,
administrative or governmental entity created by the
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Constitution or statutes of this state, by order or
ordinance of any political subdivision or district, judicial
entities when operating in an administrative capacity, or by
executive order, including:
(a) Any body, agency, board, bureau, council,
commission, committee, board of regents or board of curators
or any other governing body of any institution of higher
education, including a community college, which is supported
in whole or in part from state funds, including but not
limited to the administrative entity known as "The Curators
of the University of Missouri" as established by section
172.020;
(b) Any advisory committee or commission appointed by
the governor by executive order;
(c) Any department or division of the state, of any
political subdivision of the state, of any county or of any
municipal government, school district or special purpose
district including but not limited to sewer districts, wa ter
districts, and other subdistricts of any political
subdivision;
(d) Any other legislative or administrative
governmental deliberative body under the direction of three
or more elected or appointed members having rulemaking or
quasi-judicial power;
(e) Any committee appointed by or at the direction of
any of the entities and which is authorized to report to any
of the above-named entities, any advisory committee
appointed by or at the direction of any of the named
entities for the specific purpose of recommending, directly
to the public governmental body's governing board or its
chief administrative officer, policy or policy revisions or
expenditures of public funds including, but not limited to,
entities created to advise bi -state taxing districts
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regarding the expenditure of public funds, or any policy
advisory body, policy advisory committee or policy advisory
group appointed by a president, chancellor or chief
executive officer of any college or university system or
individual institution at the direction of the governing
body of such institution which is supported in whole or in
part with state funds for the specific purpose of
recommending directly to the public governmental body's
governing board or the president, ch ancellor or chief
executive officer policy, policy revisions or expenditures
of public funds provided, however, the staff of the college
or university president, chancellor or chief executive
officer shall not constitute such a policy advisory
committee. The custodian of the records of any public
governmental body shall maintain a list of the policy
advisory committees described in this subdivision;
(f) Any quasi-public governmental body. The term
"quasi-public governmental body" means any p erson,
corporation or partnership organized or authorized to do
business in this state pursuant to the provisions of chapter
352, 353, or 355, or unincorporated association which either:
a. Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts
with public governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in
activities carried out pursuant to an agreement or
agreements with public governmental bodies; or
b. Performs a public function as evidenced by a
statutorily based capacity to confer or otherwi se advance,
through approval, recommendation or other means, the
allocation or issuance of tax credits, tax abatement, public
debt, tax-exempt debt, rights of eminent domain, or the
contracting of leaseback agreements on structures whose
annualized payments commit public tax revenues; or any
association that directly accepts the appropriation of money
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from a public governmental body, but only to the extent that
a meeting, record, or vote relates to such appropriation; and
(g) Any bi-state development agency established
pursuant to section 70.370;
(5) "Public meeting", any meeting of a public
governmental body subject to sections 610.010 to 610.030 at
which any public business is discussed, decided, or public
policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted in
person or by means of communication equipment, including,
but not limited to, conference call, video conference,
internet chat, or internet message board. The term "public
meeting" shall not include an informal gathering of members
of a public governmental body for ministerial or social
purposes when there is no intent to avoid the purposes of
this chapter or any meeting of a group of members of a
public governmental body who are not acting on behalf of the
entire public governmental body or when a public
governmental body is an individually elected or appointed
official who is meeting with members of his or her staff in
the ordinary course of business , but the term shall include
a public vote of all or a majority of the members of a
public governmental body or a group of members of a public
governmental body voting to advance an item to a vote of
another group of members or the entire public governmental
body, by electronic communication or any other means,
conducted in lieu of holding a public meeting with the
members of the public governmental body gathered at one
location in order to conduct public business;
(6) "Public record", any record, whether written or
electronically stored, retained by or of any public
governmental body including any report, survey, memorandum,
or other document or study prepared for the public
governmental body by a consultant or other professional
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service paid for in whole or in part by public funds,
including records created or maintained by private
contractors under an agreement with a public governmental
body or on behalf of a public governmental body; provided,
however, that personally identifiable student records
maintained by public educational institutions sh all be open
for inspection only by the parents, legal guardian or other
custodian of students under the age of eighteen years and by
the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if
the student is over the age of eighteen years. The term
"public record" shall not include any internal memorandum or
letter received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a
public governmental body consisting of advice, opinions and
recommendations in connection with the deliberative decision -
making process of said body, unless such records are
[retained by the public governmental body or ] presented at a
public meeting. Any document or study prepared for a public
governmental body by a consultant or other professional
service as described in this su bdivision shall be retained
by the public governmental body in the same manner as any
other public record;
(7) "Public vote", any vote, whether conducted in
person, by telephone, or by any other electronic means, cast
at any public meeting of any public governmental body.
610.021. Except to the extent disclosure is otherwise
required by law, a public governmental body is authorized to
close meetings, records and votes, to the extent they relate
to the following:
(1) Legal actions, causes of action or litigation
involving a public governmental body and any confidential or
privileged communications between a public governmental body
or its representatives and its attorneys. However, any
minutes, vote or settlement agree ment relating to legal
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actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its
interests or acting on its behalf or with its authority,
including any insurance company acting on behalf of a p ublic
government body as its insured, shall be made public upon
final disposition of the matter voted upon or upon the
signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is
ordered closed by a court after a written finding that the
adverse impact to a plaintiff or plaintiffs to the action
clearly outweighs the public policy considerations of
section 610.011, however, the amount of any moneys paid by,
or on behalf of, the public governmen tal body shall be
disclosed; provided, however, in matters involving the
exercise of the power of eminent domain, the vote shall be
announced or become public immediately following the action
on the motion to authorize institution of such a legal
action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed
record;
(2) Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a
public governmental body where public knowledge of the
transaction might adversely affect the legal consideration
therefor. However, any minutes, vote or public record
approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or
sale of real estate by a public governmental body shall be
made public upon execution of the lease, purchase or sale of
the real estate;
(3) Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of
particular employees by a public governmental body when
personal information about the employee is discussed or
recorded. However, any vote on a final decision, when taken
by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, pr omote or
discipline an employee of a public governmental body shall
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be made available with a record of how each member voted to
the public within seventy -two hours of the close of the
meeting where such action occurs; provided, however, that
any employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt notice
of such decision during the seventy -two-hour period before
such decision is made available to the public. As used in
this subdivision, the term "personal information" means
information relating to the performance or merit of
individual employees;
(4) The state militia or national guard or any part
thereof;
(5) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings
involving identifiable persons, including all records or
portions of records r elating to medical, psychiatric,
psychological, or alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or
treatment;
(6) Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of
identifiable individuals, including records of individual
test or examination scores; h owever, personally identifiable
student records maintained by public educational
institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents,
guardian or other custodian of students under the age of
eighteen years and by the parents, guardian or other
custodian and the student if the student is over the age of
eighteen years;
(7) Testing and examination materials, before the test
or examination is given or, if it is to be given again,
before so given again;
(8) Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;
(9) Preparation, including any discussions or work
product, on behalf of a public governmental body or its
representatives for negotiations with employee groups;
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(10) Software codes for electronic data processing and
documentation thereof;
(11) Specifications for competitive bidding, until
either the specifications are officially approved by the
public governmental body or the specifications are published
for bid;
(12) Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids
are opened; and sealed proposals and related documents or
any documents related to a negotiated contract until a
contract is executed, or all proposals are rejected;
(13) Individually identifiable personnel records,
performance ratings or re cords pertaining to employees or
applicants for employment, except that this exemption shall
not apply to the names, positions, salaries and lengths of
service of officers and employees of public agencies once
they are employed as such, and the names o f private sources
donating or contributing money to the salary of a chancellor
or president at all public colleges and universities in the
state of Missouri and the amount of money contributed by the
source;
(14) Records which are protected from disclosure by
law;
(15) Meetings and public records relating to
scientific and technological innovations in which the owner
has a proprietary interest;
(16) Records relating to municipal hotlines
established for the reporting of abuse and w rongdoing;
(17) Confidential or privileged communications between
a public governmental body and its auditor, including all
auditor work product; however, all final audit reports
issued by the auditor are to be considered open records
pursuant to this chapter;
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(18) (a) Security measures, global positioning system
(GPS) data, and investigative or surveillance techniques of
any public agency responsible for law enforcement or public
safety which, if disclosed, has the potential to endanger
individual or public safety or health.
(b) Any information or data provided to a tip line for
the purpose of safety or security at an educational
institution that, if disclosed, has the potential to
endanger the health or safety of an individual or the public.
(c) Any information contained in any suspicious
activity report provided to law enforcement that, if
disclosed, has the potential to endanger the health or
safety of an individual or the public.
(d) Operational guidelines, po licies and specific
response plans developed, adopted, or maintained by any
public agency responsible for law enforcement, public
safety, first response, or public health for use in
responding to or preventing any critical incident which is
or appears to [be terrorist in nature and which has the
potential to] endanger individual or public safety or
health. Financial records related to the procurement of or
expenditures relating to operational guidelines, policies or
plans purchased with public fun ds shall be open. When
seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the
public governmental body shall affirmatively state in
writing that disclosure would impair the public governmental
body's ability to protect the security or safety of persons
or real property, and shall in the same writing state that
the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public
interest in disclosure of the records;
(19) Existing or proposed security systems , security
protocols and structural plans of real property owned or
leased by a public governmental body, and information that
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is voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity owning or
operating an infrastructure to any public governmental body
for use by that body to devise plans for protect ion of that
infrastructure, the public disclosure of which would
threaten public safety:
(a) Records related to the procurement of or
expenditures relating to security systems purchased with
public funds shall be open;
(b) When seeking to close information pursuant to this
exception, the public governmental body shall affirmatively
state in writing that disclosure would impair the public
governmental body's ability to protect the security or
safety of persons or real property, and shall in the same
writing state that the public interest in nondisclosure
outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records;
(c) Records that are voluntarily submitted by a
nonpublic entity shall be reviewed by the receiving agency
within ninety days of submission to determine if retention
of the document is necessary in furtherance of a state
security interest. If retention is not necessary, the
documents shall be returned to the nonpublic governmental
body or destroyed;
(20) The portion of a record that identifies security
systems or access codes or authorization codes for security
systems of real property;
(21) Records that identify the configuration of
components or the operation of a computer, computer system,
computer network, or telecommunications network, and would
allow unauthorized access to or unlawful disruption of a
computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network of a public governmental body.
This exception shall not be used to li mit or deny access to
otherwise public records in a file, document, data file or
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database containing public records. Records related to the
procurement of or expenditures relating to such computer,
computer system, computer network, or telecommunicati ons
network, including the amount of moneys paid by, or on
behalf of, a public governmental body for such computer,
computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network shall be open;
(22) Credit card numbers, personal identification
numbers, digital certificates, physical and virtual keys,
access codes or authorization codes that are used to protect
the security of electronic transactions between a public
governmental body and a person or entity doing business with
a public governmental body. Nothing in this section shall
be deemed to close the record of a person or entity using a
credit card held in the name of a public governmental body
or any record of a transaction made by a person using a
credit card or other method of p ayment for which
reimbursement is made by a public governmental body;
(23) Records submitted by an individual, corporation,
or other business entity to a public institution of higher
education in connection with a proposal to license
intellectual property or perform sponsored research and
which contains sales projections or other business plan
information the disclosure of which may endanger the
competitiveness of a business;
(24) Records relating to foster home or kinship
placements of children in foster care under section 210.498;
[and]
(25) Individually identifiable customer usage and
billing records for customers of a municipally owned
utility, unless the records are requested by the customer or
authorized for release by the customer, except that a
municipally owned utility shall make available to the public
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the customer's name, billing address, location of service,
and dates of service provided for any commercial service
account;
(26) Email addresses and telephone numbers submitted
to a public governmental body by individuals or entities for
the sole purpose of receiving electronic or other
communications limited to newsletters, notifications,
advisories, alerts, and periodic reports;
(27) Any portion of a record that may be used to
individually identify a constituent of the public
governmental body. As used in this subdivision,
"constituent" shall mean any person who is a resident within
the boundaries of the public governmental body, any person
who owns real property within the boundaries of the public
governmental body, or any person who owns an interest in a
business entity operating within the boundaries of the
public governmental body. The term "constituent" shall not
include a person who is registered as a lobbyist or a
lobbyist principal, as such terms are defined in section
105.470, or a public official, regardless of whether such
person otherwise meets the definition of "constituent". As
used in this subdivision, the term "public off icial" shall
mean any statewide elected official or any person holding
elective office of any political subdivision as well as an
employee of such elected official when such employee is
acting in an official capacity. Nothing in this subdivision
shall authorize the closure of a record that has been
offered in a public meeting of the public governmental body,
or any committee thereof;
(28) Any portion of a record that contains
individually identifiable information of any person who
registers for a recreational or social activity or event
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sponsored by a public governmental body, if such public
governmental body is a political subdivision; and
(29) Any record retained in the office of a member of
the general assembly, an employee of eit her house of the
general assembly, or an employee of a caucus of either the
majority or minority party of either house that contains
information regarding proposed legislation or the
legislative process; however, nothing in this subdivision
shall allow the closure of a record that has been offered in
a public meeting of a house of the general assembly, or any
committee thereof, nor any record addressed to, or from, in
whole or in part, a lobbyist or a lobbyist principal, as
such terms are defined i n section 105.470.
610.023. 1. Each public governmental body is to
appoint a custodian who is to be responsible for the
maintenance of that body's records. The identity and
location of a public governmental body's custodian is to be
made available upon request.
2. Each public governmental body shall make available
for inspection and copying by the public of that body's
public records. No person shall remove original public
records from the office of a public governmental bod y or its
custodian without written permission of the designated
custodian. No public governmental body shall, after August
28, 1998, grant to any person or entity, whether by
contract, license or otherwise, the exclusive right to
access and dissemina te any public record unless the granting
of such right is necessary to facilitate coordination with,
or uniformity among, industry regulators having similar
authority.
3. Each request for access to a public record shall be
acted upon as soon as p ossible, but in no event later than
the end of the [third] fourth business day following the
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date the request is received by the custodian of records of
a public governmental body. If the requested records are
posted on the public governmental body's website or are
otherwise publicly available, providing an electronic link
or other electronic access to the records satisfies the
request as long as the records may be downloaded, duplicated
or printed. The information requested shall also be
reasonably easy to access from the link provided. If
records are requested in a certain format, the public body
shall provide the records in the requested format, if such
format is available. If access to the public record is not
granted immediately, the cu stodian shall give a detailed
explanation of the cause for further delay and the place and
earliest time and date that the record will be available for
inspection. Access to and the production of the records may
be conditioned upon receipt of payment pursuant to section
610.026. This period for document production may exceed
[three] four days for reasonable cause.
4. If a request for access is denied, the custodian
shall provide, upon request, a written statement of the
grounds for such deni al. Such statement shall cite the
specific provision of law under which access is denied and
shall be furnished to the requester no later than the end of
the [third] fourth business day following the date that the
request for the statement is received .
610.024. 1. If a public record contains material
which is not exempt from disclosure as well as material
which is exempt from disclosure, the public governmental
body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material and
make the nonexempt material available for examination and
copying. Where a single record or document contains both
open and closed records, the public governmental body shall
make a redacted version of such record or document available
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in order to protect the inf ormation that would otherwise
make the record or document a closed record.
2. When designing a public record, a public
governmental body shall, to the extent practicable,
facilitate a separation of exempt from nonexempt
information. If the separation is readily apparent to a
person requesting to inspect or receive copies of the form,
the public governmental body shall generally describe the
material exempted unless that description would reveal the
contents of the exempt information and thus defeat the
purpose of the exemption.
610.026. 1. Except as otherwise provided by law, each
public governmental body shall provide access to and, upon
request, furnish copies of public records subject to the
following:
(1) Fees for copying public records, except those
records restricted under section 32.091, shall not exceed
ten cents per page for a paper copy not larger than nine by
fourteen inches, with the hourly fee for duplicating time
not to exceed the average hourly rat e of pay for clerical
staff of the public governmental body. Research time
required for fulfilling records requests may be charged at
the actual cost of research time. Based on the scope of the
request, the public governmental body shall produce the
copies using employees of the body that result in the lowest
amount of charges for search, research, redaction, and
duplication time. Any charge for redaction shall not
include time needed for separation of records containing
redacted materials and o ther records that are responsive to
the request. Prior to producing copies of the requested
records, the person requesting the records may request the
public governmental body to provide an estimate of the cost
to the person requesting the records. Documents may be
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furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the
public governmental body determines that waiver or reduction
of the fee is in the public interest because it is likely to
contribute significantly to public understanding of the
operations or activities of the public governmental body and
is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester;
(2) Fees for providing access to public records
maintained on computer facilities, recording tapes or disks,
videotapes or films, pictures, maps, slides, graphics,
illustrations or similar audio or visual items or devices,
and for paper copies larger than nine by fourteen inches
shall include only the cost of copies, staff time, which
shall not exceed the average hourly rat e of pay for staff of
the public governmental body required for making copies and
programming, if necessary, and the cost of the disk, tape,
or other medium used for the duplication. Fees for maps,
blueprints, or plats that require special expertise t o
duplicate may include the actual rate of compensation for
the trained personnel required to duplicate such maps,
blueprints, or plats. If programming is required beyond the
customary and usual level to comply with a request for
records or informati on, the fees for compliance may include
the actual costs of such programming.
2. (1) Payment of [such copying] fees may be
requested prior to [the making of copies ] fulfilling the
request.
(2) A request for public records to a public
governmental body shall be considered withdrawn if the
requester fails to remit all fees within sixty days, or
within one hundred twenty days if the requested fees are
greater than one thousand dollars, of a request for payment
of the fees by the public gov ernmental body, prior to
fulfilling the request. The public governmental body shall
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include notice to the requester that if the requester fails
to remit payment of the fees within sixty days, or within
one hundred twenty days if the requested fees are greater
than one thousand dollars, then the request for public
records shall be considered withdrawn. If the public
governmental body responds to a request for public records
in order to seek a clarification of the request and no
response to the request for clarification is received by the
public governmental body within sixty days, or within one
hundred twenty days if the requested fees are greater than
one thousand dollars, of sending the request for
clarification, then such request for public records shall be
considered withdrawn. The request for clarification by the
public governmental body shall include notice to the
requester that if the requester fails to respond within
sixty days, or within one hundred twenty days if the
requested fees are greater than one thousand dollars, then
the request shall be considered withdrawn. If the same or a
substantially similar request for public records is made
within six months after the expiration of the sixty -day
period, or within one hundred t wenty days if the requested
fees are greater than one thousand dollars, and no fee was
remitted for such request or no response was received to the
request for clarification, then the public governmental body
may request payment of the same fees made f or the original
request that has expired in addition to any allowable fees
necessary to fulfill the subsequent request. Any request
for records to a public governmental body that is pending on
August 28, 2023, shall be considered withdrawn if the
requester fails to remit all fees by January 1, 2024. The
provisions of this subdivision shall not apply if a lawsuit
has been filed against the public governmental body with
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regard to the records that are the subject of the request
under this subdivisio n.
3. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public
governmental body of the state shall remit all moneys
received by or for it from fees charged pursuant to this
section to the director of revenue for deposit to the
general revenue fund of th e state.
4. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public
governmental body of a political subdivision of the state
shall remit all moneys received by it or for it from fees
charged pursuant to sections 610.010 to 610.028 to the
appropriate fiscal officer of such political subdivision for
deposit to the governmental body's accounts.
5. The term "tax, license or fees" as used in Section
22 of Article X of the Constitution of the State of Missouri
does not include copying charges and rel ated fees that do
not exceed the level necessary to pay or to continue to pay
the costs for providing a service, program, or activity
which was in existence on November 4, 1980, or which was
approved by a vote of the people subsequent to November 4,
1980.