| House Sends Journalist Loophole Reform To Governor |
|
|
|
| Written by Jeff Garvas | |
| Tuesday, 19 December 2006 | |
|
Today the Ohio House of Representatives took up Substitute House Bill 9 and considered amendments made by the Ohio Senate. As you may recall, Representative Tom Brinkman amended HB9 on the House Floor to create an opt-out system that would allow concealed handgun licensees to deny journalists access to their private information. You may have read on our website that the Ohio Senate modified this opt-out system with a compromise. Represenative Oelslager compared it to a compromise on autopsy records. Instead of being able to obtain actual photos (or in our case, photo copies), the requesting journalist may see the records of license holders and take notes. Sheriffs will no longer be permitted to distribute bulk photo copies. This change will make it more difficult, if not financially prohibitive, to obtain entire lists of license holders for the sake of intimidation tactics made popular by newspapers like The Cleveland Plain Dealer. However, if a journalist wishes to use the information as it was originally intended, they may still research whether or not a specific individual has been issued a license to carry a handgun for self-defense. After a lengthy description of the changes, Representative Bill Seitz, a well-known friend to gun owners, rose to oppose the bill because the Ohio Senate removed a provision that would make it possibly for people to get information on slum property owners. He also spoke in opposition to the removal of a system that would create an intermediary to use when records were denied. The only form of recourse now is to hire an attorney and litigate denials. Most importantly, Representative Seitz commented on the inadequacies of the concealed carry compromise fashioned by the Senate. Seitz reminded us that although HB9 prevents photo-copying records, it still allows a journalist the ability to write down all of the information they request. In his opinion, this means that the media's abuse of this information could continue. Finally, Representative Seitz voiced concerns over Senate amendments that seem to protect journalists and fund lawyers with mandatory attorney fees. He was concerned with the fact that the House language that permitted certain time limits to produce records was significantly rewritten and includes mandatory attorney fees. Even mandatory fees to litigate the original mandatory legal fees. Seitz then said if Trafficant were still in the State House he'd call on Scotty to "beam me up". The Representative concluded that the bill is aimed at appeasing journalists and the law firms that represent them. He then strongly urged the House to oppose concurrence and return during the next session to reconsider the needs of the people when a new privacy sub-committee would be able to more appropriately deliberate upon the issues that are not addressed in the current version of the bill. The question to concur was called. A vote of 52-39 sent Substitute House Bill 9 to the Governor for his decision. Based on the minimal opposition from the Ohio Newspaper Association and urging from the news media to sign this bill into law, we do not believe it will be vetoed. |