Entities

Uniform Law Commission (5)
Topics and Issues

Daniel's Law (8)

Identifiers in public records (3)

Public Records (25)

In 2021, the Uniform Law Commission established a study committee, the Redaction of Personal Information from Public Records (Study Committee).  In early-2022 the study committee, as it started kicking off, greatly expanded its earlier and narrower scope.

In 2021, when the committee was first created, it was established to “study the need for and feasibility of a uniform or model law concerning the redaction of personal information, particularly with respect to judges and other public officials, from real property records and other official public records in order to address safety concerns. The Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Real Property Acts proposed this project.”

In advance of the committee’s first meeting in January 2022, the committee leaders released an issues memo (12/30/2020) that dramatically expands the types of records and classes of people that might be covered by a uniform or model law.  For example, a ULC proposal could cover not just real property records, but any public records that contain personally-identifying information.  While the initial scope of the committee was largely limited to judges, the issues memo now opens the door to application to elected officials, senior government officials, immediate family members of public officials; and private citizens, like whistleblowers, and journalists.

The committee leaders:

  • Vince DeLiberato, Study Committee Chair.  DeLiberato is the Director of the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau.  DeLiberato also teaches at Weidner Law School (state constitutional law and legislation).
  • Keith Pickard, Study Committee Vice Chair. Nevada Sen. Keith Pickard (R-Las Vegas) is also a member of the Tenant Information in Rental Decisions Committee.
  • Barbara Bintliff, Study Committee Reporter, and Drafting Committee Full Reporter.  Bintliff is a law professor at U.T. Austin.
  • Amy K. Sanders, Drafting Committee Co-Reporter. Sanders is a law professor at U.T. Austin.

Committee Resources:

ULC Resources:

Other Resources:

  • In June 2022, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and 24 additional government transparency organizations endorsed a letter to the ULC’s redaction committee, objecting to the committee’s process because (a) the legislation considered by the ULC is likely to result in unintended reductions in access to public records; (b) there is a real cost to such redactions; and (c) the ULC should consider other measures that would not undermine government transparency.
  • An article was written by committee member, Anne Klinefelter. Privacy and Court Records: An Empirical Study, Berkeley Technology Law Journal (2015) p. 1807.
  • Federal legislation.  S. 4711, the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2020.  This was a bipartisan bill from Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).  Sen. Graham chaired Judiciary when the bill was introduced.  The bill was blocked by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who wanted to expand the bill’s scope.  As reported in December 2020 by Politico, the bill “hit a stumbling block Wednesday, after a Republican senator insisted the measure be broadened to give similar protection to details about members of Congress…Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who was the victim of a serious attack at his home by a neighbor in 2017, said lawmakers also deserve to have information about their homes and family members shrouded from public view.”  Paul was physically attacked at his home in 2017 by a neighbor.
  • State law.  The federal legislation that was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2020 is similar to a law that passed in New Jersey in 2020, and effective November 20, 2020.  Both the federal bill,  S. 4711, the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2020, and its state counterpart, S. 2797/A. 1649, “Daniel’s Law,” have their origins in the tragic shooting death of a federal judge’s son in New Jersey in 2020.  The New Jersey law is P.L.2020, c.125 that amends Code Sections 47:1A-1.1, 47:1-17, concerning public records; 2C:20-31.1, concerning computer crimes; and 56:8-166.1, concerning UDTP.  Additional information on the law can be found at Law 360, Salas Speaks Out as Daniel’s Law Is Signed Into Law, Nov. 20, 2020, and a press release from Gov. Murphy.
  • The source of the federal legislation and state law.  The federal bill and New Jersey law flow out of the 2020 murder of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was shot and killed at the judge’s home in North Brunswick, New Jersey.  Judge Salas’ husband Mark Andrl, was critically wounded in the attack. The bill also followed a rise in threats to members of the federal judiciary, public health officials, and others.  According to media accounts, in July 2020, Roy Den Hollender, posing as a FedEx delivery driver, went to the home of Judge Salas and opened fire, critically wounding her husband, Mark Anderl, and killing their 20-year-old son, Daniel. Judge Salas later made a personal, public plea for greater privacy protections for federal judges.  Den Hollender was found dead of an apparent suicide.  It’s not entirely clear to me at this writing how the alleged assailant, Roy Den Hollender, obtained the judge’s address, but it could have been through a variety of online or other sources, hence the focus on “data brokers”.