Legislative updates to Missouri Sunshine Law

During the last legislative session, the General Assembly passed HB145, modifying several provisions of the Missouri Sunshine Law, Chapter 610 RSMo. 

Minor Records

Currently, the Sunshine Law does not specifically provide for closing records that contain individually identifiable information of minors. This bill creates a new provision, § 610.021(27) RSMo., authorizing closure of any portion of a record that contains individually identifiable information of a minor under eighteen years of age held by a city, town, village, or park board, except when requested by the Division of Labor Standards for the purpose of enforcing child labor laws under Chapter 294 RSMo.

Copying Fees and Withdrawal of Request After Certain Time Periods

Currently, the payment of copying fees for public records can be requested prior to such copies being made. This bill modifies § 610.021.2 to authorize a public governmental body to request payment of fees prior to fulfilling a request.   

The bill also provides clarity for public governmental bodies with records requests that remain pending for months after providing an estimate of fees. This amendment allows a public governmental body to treat a request as withdrawn if the requestor does not remit fees within 90 days, or 150 days if the fees exceed $1,000, of a request for payment. The public governmental body is required to provide notice to the requestor that the request will be considered withdrawn if payment is not received within the applicable timeframe.  

If the public governmental body seeks clarification about a request, and the requestor does not respond within the same time frames – 90 days, or 150 days if the fees are over $1,000 – the request is considered withdrawn. The public governmental body shall include notice to the requestor of such time limits when seeking clarification. If the same or a substantially similar request is made within 6 months, and no fees have been remitted or clarification was not provided during the prior request, the public governmental body is authorized to request payment of fees for the original request as well as any allowable fees for the subsequent request.  

It should be noted that any request for records that is pending on August 28, 2025 will be considered withdrawn if the requestor fails to remit fees by January 1, 2026. These provisions do not apply if a lawsuit has been filed against the public governmental body regarding the records that are the subject of the request. 

HB 145 also provides the following new exceptions under § 610.021 to close records: 

• “(28) Individually identifiable customer information for visitors who make a camping, lodging, or shelter reservation for a county park, municipal park, or Missouri state park or state historic site unless the records are requested by the visitor or authorized for release by the visitor, and except that this exemption shall not apply to the municipality of residence and the zip code of residence of the visitor;” and 

• “(29) Records to protect the specific location of a plant or animal species considered endangered, threatened, critically imperiled, imperiled, or vulnerable when the known location may cause the species to be at an increased risk of peril.” 

Additionally, HB 145 provides amendments to § 610.021(26), the amended text is underlined below: 

• “(26) Individually identifiable customer usage and billing records for customers of a municipally owned utility or a utility operated by any political subdivision created by 136 Article VI, Section 30(a) of the Constitution of Missouri, unless the records are requested by the customer or authorized for release by the customer, except that a municipally owned utility or a utility operated by any political subdivision created by Article VI, Section 30 (a) of the Constitution of Missouri shall make available to the public the customer's name, billing address, location of service, and dates of service provided for any commercial service account;” 

  
  

Governor Kehoe has not yet signed this bill, which was delivered to him on May 30th. If he does not act by July 14, 2025, it will become law by operation of Constitutional provisions. Please note, these summaries are not exhaustive, and you should consult with your city attorney if you have additional questions regarding the full text of the legislation.