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SPONSOR: |
Duran |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
|
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Public Records Exception |
SB |
36 |
||||
|
ANALYST: |
Gonzales |
|||||
APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
$0.1 |
Minimal |
Recurring |
County
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates HB 112
Responses
Received From
Commission
of Public Records,
Attorney
General
Department
of Military Affairs
Veterans’
Service Commission
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
Senate Bill 36 creates
an exception under the Inspection of Public Records Act for military discharge
papers filed with the county clerks of the various counties of the state.
Significant
Issues
There is significant confidential information
contained in the discharge papers of veterans such as social security numbers,
date of birth, medical information, type of discharge, address, medals awarded,
family information and location of their service.
The Commission of Public Records notes the
following:
Military discharge
records are federally created and regulated by federal regulations governing
disclosure of personal information. The
records addressed in the proposed exemption are the copies filed voluntarily by
veterans with the county clerks. The
bill does not address copies filed or located elsewhere. Further, the provisions with respect to
commingled records may conflict with federal requirements regarding
redaction of identifying information.
Those dealing with non-commingled records appear to exceed current
federal standards as well as access provisions in place at the NM Commission of
Public Records. Importantly, the bill
bases the exemption – in other works, provides confidentiality for – records
based on the filing system employed and filing location – not on privacy
issues.
Differing standards
may well exist with which the Commission of Public Records will
have
to comply in meeting requests for access to these records since 1) copies of
these
discharge
papers may be filed in more than one location and, accordingly, the State Ar
chives
may receive them from more than one source; 2) the exemption only addresses
those
filed with the county clerks; 3) some may be commingled and others not; and 4)
some
commingled may have exemption requests attached.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The Commission of
Public Records states there would be no fiscal impact on the Commission in FY03
or FY04. However, as county records are
transferred to the agency in the future, new procedures may need to be created
to monitor access to these records. The
bill, however, could possibly reduce costs and simplify administrative
processes at the county level since the county clerk could simply deny access
to non-commingled records, based on the proposed exemption, rather than having
to redact selected information in the records that is confidential pursuant to
federal law.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, RELATIONSHIP
Senate Bill 36 is a duplicate of House Bill
112.
The Commission of Public Records indicates the
provisions of the bill may conflict with, in the case of commingled
records, federal restrictions placed on the disclosure of identifying, personal
information contained within military discharge records. With respect to non-commingled papers, the
provisions appear to exceed federal requirements and current access procedures
with respect to discharge papers held by the NM Commission of Public Records.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The Commission of Public Records lists the
following issues: