COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Government transparency advocates are concerned that a pair of Missouri laws could severely limit the public’s ability to access records from law enforcement agencies and public colleges.
One gives police and other law enforcement agencies sweeping power to close records related to security measures, GPS data and other investigative information if the records could potentially put the public in danger.
The other builds upon a current law that exempts some companies and nonprofits that partner with public colleges from the state’s open records laws. It states that meetings, records and votes submitted by a business to a public college may be closed if they relate to “investments in or financial transactions with business entities for investment purposes.”
