No. SB 466
Filed under Legal.
Public Records/Legal Assistants/Office of the Public Defender/Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel ; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for the home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and photographs of current legal assistants employed by the office of the public defender and the office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel and the personal identifying and location information of the spouses and children of such legal assistants; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing for retroactive application of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCurrent legal assistants at the office of the public defender and the office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel gain the same public-records shield already given to the attorneys they work for.
The exemption covers a legal assistant's home address, phone numbers, birth date, and photograph, plus the same details and employer information for their spouse and children, and the name and location of any school or day care those children attend.
Any office employee who is not a public defender, assistant public defender, regional counsel, or assistant regional counsel counts as a covered 'legal assistant,' a broad definition that reaches far beyond people who actually assist with legal work.
Unlike the attorneys' own exemption, this protection lasts only while the person is currently employed there, and it expires automatically on October 2, 2031, unless the Legislature reenacts it first.
AIAdds current legal assistants to the list of court personnel whose home address, phone numbers, birth date, and photograph are exempt from public-records disclosure, and extends the same shield to their spouse's and children's personal details and to the name and location of any school or day care their children attend.
AIDefines 'legal assistant' as any employee of either office who is not a public defender, assistant public defender, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, or assistant regional counsel, so the term reaches every other staff member regardless of job duties.
AIThe new protection for legal assistants is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act and automatically repeals on October 2, 2031, unless the Legislature reviews it and votes to reenact it before that date.