LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A bill introduced in the Kentucky legislature could change how the public and media access information. The bill would change the current Open Records Act.

Kentucky lawmakers filed House Bill 509, which would change the definition of a public record. 

According to Kentucky Law, public records are currently defined as “…documentation regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public agency…”

Opponents of the bill say HB209 would change the definition of what’s considered a public record, meaning the public could no longer access certain types of documents.

Those would include early drafts, notes and emails between public officials and individuals in the private sector. 

Jon Fleischaker, an attorney working on media and First Amendment cases, said, “I think that the open records law has been extraordinarily effective in disclosing not only the decisions or non-decisions that a public agency made, but why those decisions were made.”

Rep. John Hodgson, R-Fisherville, Speaker of the House, David Osborne, R-Prospect, and Majority Whip Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, sponsored the bill.

In an email to Spectrum News 1, Hodgson argued that every record that is disclosable now remains disclosable. 

He says that the bill mandates officials use officially sanctioned communication platforms to conduct state business that creates official records, or face agency discipline. 

But opponents of the bill argue it creates a loophole for public officials to use a personal cellphone or email to conduct business with no one knowing. 

“So that makes it extremely difficult to pursue any sort of litigation or any sort of effort to get a record if you don’t know it exists,” Fleischaker said.

Hodgson remains adamant that the bill does not further limit access to public records and he would be willing to make revisions. 

The bill has not been assigned to the committee for an initial hearing.