Brief⁽¹⁾

The bill would amend the Open Records Act to prohibit the use of public personnel information for certain purposes. Specifically, names, positions, salaries, and lengths of service of public officers and employees that are obtained under the Act could not be used to recruit or solicit those employees for employment.

The bill would authorize, but not require, public agencies to obtain a written certification from anyone who requests public personnel information. The requestor would have to certify that they will not use, sell, or provide a list of names or addresses from the public records for the purpose of recruiting or soliciting public employees for employment. The provision regarding the written certification is similar to existing law regarding the commercial use of public personnel information.

Background

The bill was requested for introduction by the Department of Administration. A representative of the Department's Division of Personnel Services presented testimony in support of the bill at the hearing before the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs. No opponents of the bill presented testimony at the hearing.

The fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget states that the fiscal impact of the bill cannot be determined. According to the fiscal note, the fiscal impact of the bill would be dependent upon whether it acts as a deterrent to entities that recruit public employees for employment in the private sector.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.