States shield addresses of judges, workers after threats
JEFFERSON CITY, MO. >> Following threats and attacks on public officials, state lawmakers across the U.S. have stepped up efforts to shield personal information from being publicly disclosed about judges, police, elected officeholders and various public employees.
The measures generally are winning widespread support in state capitols — adding a layer of secrecy, in the name of safety, that could make it more difficult to determine whether public officials are complying with residency laws and paying their property taxes.
The efforts to exempt more information from public disclosure come despite the fact that many governments are more transparent than ever when it comes to their meetings — making permanent the online streaming options spurred as a response to coronavirus-related restrictions on public gatherings.
That’s led to a split assessment of government openness during Sunshine Week, an annual recognition of public information laws that began Sunday and runs through Saturday.
Though meetings may be more accessible, “basically, government is getting more secretive every year,” said David Cuillier, an associate journalism professor at the University of Arizona who has been analyzing data about government compliance with open-records laws.
People requesting records from the federal government are successful only about one-fifth of the time, down from a greater than 50% success rate more than a decade ago, according to Cuillier’s research.
Information requests under state laws typically fair better, Cuillier said, but “every year, we get exemptions being passed in state legislatures all across the country, and that just seems to be accelerating.”
On a case-by-case basis, many public records exceptions may appear reasonable and justified. The movement to shield the home addresses of judges provides one good example.
In 2020, a man disgruntled with U.S. District Judge Esther Salas came to her New Jersey home disguised as a deliveryman and fatally shot her 20-year-old son while wounding her husband. New Jersey officials responded later that year by enacting a law that exempted the home addresses of current or retired judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers from disclosure under public records laws. The measure, called Daniel’s Law in honor of the judge’s son, also allowed covered officials to ask businesses or individuals to remove their home addresses from internet sites they control.
Though some states already had similar laws, the New Jersey case provided an impetus for action elsewhere. Most states now have laws prohibiting governmental entities from disclosing the home addresses of at least some public employees, with judges among the most commonly protected, according to research by Jodie Gil, an associate journalism professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
A study panel of the Uniform Law Commission, a nonprofit organization that drafts potential legislation for state lawmakers, plans to recommend this spring that a common policy be drafted to exclude judges’ home addresses and certain personal information from public-record disclosures, said Vince DeLiberato, director of Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reference Bureau and chair of the study panel. The policy also could include an option to shield information for other public officials facing threats, he said.
Meanwhile, states are pressing forward with their own information-exemption laws for certain officials.
The Missouri Senate recently voted 30-1 for legislation that allows judges and prosecutors to request that their home addresses, phone numbers, personal email addresses, marital status, children’s identities and other information be removed from public display. The shield would apply not only to government records and websites but also to privately run sites such as online phone directories and internet search engines. That bill is now pending in the House.
On the same day as the Missouri vote, the Georgia Senate voted 53-0 for legislation allowing federal, state or local public employees to request that their residential addresses and phone numbers be removed from online property records posted by local governments. That bill is now pending in the House.