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Nixon signs omnibus public safety bill that includes police recording provisions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon signed four bills regarding public safety and vetoed three others mostly regarding the state’s transportation system Friday. Among the public safety bills was Sen. Brian Munzlinger’s SB 732, which served as an omnibus bill relating to first responders.

Munzlinger’s bill encompasses provisions on everything from EMT licensure and workers’ compensation for firefighters to helipads at hospitals and mandated reporters of elder abuse. However, it also adds provisions that video recordings from a law enforcement vehicle or any other device is a closed record until an investigation regarding those recordings becomes inactive. Recordings made in non-public places are also closed, but anyone in the recording may obtain it through a written request.

Munzlinger
Munzlinger

Individuals will also be allowed to apply to obtain a recording at the discretion of a court which will weigh multiple factors such as harm it may cause to the general public, the law enforcement involved or anyone else in the recording.

The bill also includes the “First Informer Broadcaster Act” which ensures that broadcast engineers and technical personnel can become first informer broadcasters through training and certification during emergencies. It would provide resources for such engineers to repair damaged broadcast equipment and infrastructures in emergency areas.

The governor also signed two highway and bridge designation bills and a bill (HB 1936) that will allow sheriffs or deputies to more easily assist other sheriff’s departments across the state.

Nixon also vetoed three bills: HB 1414 would exempt data collected by state agencies under the federal Animal Disease Traceability Program from disclosure under Missouri’s Sunshine law, HB 1733 which has multiple provisions pertaining to vehicles, and HB 2237 that deals with conflict of interest when it involves county commissioners.