TULSA — An Oklahoma House of Representatives committee has passed a measure that would allow a public body to deny any open records requests that officials say would cause a disruption of its "essential function."
The Tulsa World reported that lawmakers focused their Thursday discussion on a portion of the bill that centers on video footage recorded by law enforcement body cameras or dash cameras.
District attorney David Prater argues that storage and review procedures are "cost prohibitive" to law enforcement agencies under the current law. And Prater said the current language does not afford police any lag time for investigative purposes if a video is requested by the media or public.
Republican senator David Holt of Oklahoma City argued that the change would be an "uncontrollable limit on transparency" that could be very dangerous.