Privacy rights addressed by five pre-filed bills

WORLAND — The 2017 Wyoming Legislature gets underway next Tuesday. The 37-day session begins Jan. 10 and is slated to adjourn on Friday, March 3.

The 64th Legislature will hear Governor Matt Mead’s State of the State Address at 10 a.m. on Jan. 11.

There will be a break for President’s Day recess from Friday, Feb. 17- Monday, Feb. 20 this year.

This year’s session will include freshman legislator Sen. Wyatt Agar, (R-Thermopolis, SD20). Agar defeated Mary Jane Norskog in the general election to win the seat that has been held by Gerry Geis of Worland. Geis retired at the end of this term, Dec. 31, 2016.

Agar has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary and Transportation committees.

Rep. Mike Greear (R-Worland, HD27) and Rep. Nathan Winters (R-Thermopolis, HD28) return to the House of Representatives after defeating their Democratic opponents, Robert McDonough and Howard Samelson, respectively, in the general election in November 2016.

Greear will chair the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. Winters will continue as a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

There are already, 72 House Bills prefiled according to the Wyoming Legislative website, wyoleg.gov, as well as 56 Senate Files, three House Joint Resolutions and one Senate Joint Resolution.

Senate Joint Resolution 00001 — Right of Privacy, Right to Know, would bring a proposed Constitutional Amendment before the voters in the 2018 election. The resolution is proposed by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivision Interim Committee and guarantees a right of privacy for Wyoming residents. It states.

“The right of individual privacy is essential to the well- being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest. Nothing in this section shall be construed to deprive a person of any right provided by law to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of any agency or political subdivision of the state, except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.”

The resolution for a constitutional amendment is proposed after legislation in previous sessions has failed. According to November minutes of the committee, Rep. Tyler Lindholm “noted the right to know language was added based on concerns that the right to privacy could be used to hide information.”

Jim Angell, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association said he had concerns when the subject was first brought through the Task Force for Digital Privacy. He said having “Right of Privacy” language in the constitution would trump right to know which is only protected by state statute.

Thus the second part of the question was added .. “Nothing in this section shall be construed to deprive a person of any right provided by law to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of any agency or political subdivision of the state ...”

“If that second half goes away through amending during the session, then we have an issue,” Angell said.

He said similar legislation was proposed last year but was defeated by the Senate Appropriations Committee due to cost factor of publishing an amendment.

At the present time, in addition to Senate Joint Resolution 0001, there are four other pieces of legislation regarding privacy that have been pre-filed with the Legislative Service Office — HB 00008 on student date privacy, security and transparency, which states the bill would “amend requirements of state data security plan to ensure privacy of student data collected”; HB 00009 on student ownership and privacy rights, which states that the bill “prohibits the conveyance or transfer of ownership rights of writings and other communications created by a student at the University of Wyoming or any community college in the state as specified”; SF 0020 on student digital information privacy, which states the bill would “prohibit an officer or employee of a school district from requiring access to a digital information account of a student or prospective student”; and SF 0031 on genetic information privacy, which states the bill would “prohibit the collection, retention and disclosure of genetic information without informed consent as specified.”

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