Missouri Sued Over Internet Access Law
Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 21:00 CDT
Aug. 25--Four counties Thursday rejected Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's suggestion to ignore a law limiting Internet access to records until legislators could fix it -- and instead sued the state.
Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas B. Brown III has scheduled a hearing for 3 p.m. today on the request from the counties to halt the law from taking effect Sunday.
Boone, Cass, Jackson and Platte counties filed the lawsuit with Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren.
The law prohibits government agencies from posting "the home address, Social Security number or telephone number of any elected or appointed official on the Internet without first obtaining the written permission of such official."
The counties say the law violates the Missouri Constitution and the First Amendment rights of the U.S. Constitution, is vague and is an unfunded mandate.
Because there could be thousands of elected or appointed officials in Missouri, it would be impossible to comply with the law without taking down Web sites for county land records and property tax data, local officials have said.
Blunt has encouraged governmental agencies to not comply with the law, noting that there was not a criminal provision for noncompliance and that the law would be in effect only a few weeks before lawmakers were asked to change it.
But Jackson County spokesman Ken Evans said Thursday that ignoring the law would have put county officials in a precarious legal position of facing civil lawsuits from individuals.
"And the governor cannot protect us from that," he said.
Jim Gardner, spokesman for the attorney general's office, declined to comment.
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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)
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