Missouri Statute | Act | Code |Conduct Of Public Business| US Code - US Statute | Chapter 610 Governmental Bodies And Records

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:

(1) "Closed meeting", "closed record", or "closed vote", any meeting,
record or vote closed to the public;

(2) "Copying", if requested by a member of the public, copies provided as
detailed in section 610.026, if duplication equipment is available;

(3) "Public business", all matters which relate in any way to the
performance of the public governmental body's functions or the conduct of
its business;

(4) "Public governmental body", any legislative, administrative or
governmental entity created by the constitution or statutes of this
state, by order or ordinance of any political subdivision or district,
judicial entities when operating in an administrative capacity, or by
executive order, including:

(a) Any body, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee,
board of regents or board of curators or any other governing body of any
institution of higher education, including a community college, which is
supported in whole or in part from state funds, including but not limited
to the administrative entity known as "The Curators of the University of
Missouri" as established by section 172.020, RSMo;

(b) Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the governor by
executive order;

(c) Any department or division of the state, of any political subdivision
of the state, of any county or of any municipal government, school
district or special purpose district including but not limited to sewer
districts, water districts, and other subdistricts of any political
subdivision;

(d) Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three or more elected or appointed members
having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power;

(e) Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the entities
and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named entities, any
advisory committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the named
entities for the specific purpose of recommending, directly to the public
governmental body's governing board or its chief administrative officer,
policy or policy revisions or expenditures of public funds including, but
not limited to, entities created to advise bi-state taxing districts
regarding the expenditure of public funds, or any policy advisory body,
policy advisory committee or policy advisory group appointed by a
president, chancellor or chief executive officer of any college or
university system or individual institution at the direction of the
governing body of such institution which is supported in whole or in part
with state funds for the specific purpose of recommending directly to the
public governmental body's governing board or the president, chancellor
or chief executive officer policy, policy revisions or expenditures of
public funds provided, however, the staff of the college or university
president, chancellor or chief executive officer shall not constitute
such a policy advisory committee. The custodian of the records of any
public governmental body shall maintain a list of the policy advisory
committees described in this subdivision;

(f) Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership organized
or authorized to do business in this state pursuant to the provisions of
chapter 352, 353, or 355, RSMo, or unincorporated association which
either:

a. Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in activities carried out
pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies; or

b. Performs a public function as evidenced by a statutorily based
capacity to confer or otherwise advance, through approval, recommendation
or other means, the allocation or issuance of tax credits, tax abatement,
public debt, tax-exempt debt, rights of eminent domain, or the
contracting of leaseback agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from a public governmental body, but
only to the extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such
appropriation; and

(g) Any bi-state development agency established pursuant to section
70.370, RSMo;

(5) "Public meeting", any meeting of a public governmental body subject
to sections 610.010 to 610.030 at which any public business is discussed,
decided, or public policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted
in person or by means of communication equipment, including, but not
limited to, conference call, video conference, Internet chat, or Internet
message board. The term "public meeting" shall not include an informal
gathering of members of a public governmental body for ministerial or
social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the purposes of this
chapter, but the term shall include a public vote of all or a majority of
the members of a public governmental body, by electronic communication or
any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public meeting with the
members of the public governmental body gathered at one location in order
to conduct public business;

(6) "Public record", any record, whether written or electronically
stored, retained by or of any public governmental body including any
report, survey, memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the
public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service
paid for in whole or in part by public funds, including records created
or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a public
governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body; provided,
however, that personally identifiable student records maintained by
public educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the
parents, guardian or other custodian of students under the age of
eighteen years and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the
student if the student is over the age of eighteen years. The term
"public record" shall not include any internal memorandum or letter
received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public governmental
body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations in connection
with the deliberative decision-making process of said body, unless such
records are retained by the public governmental body or presented at a
public meeting. Any document or study prepared for a public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service as described in this
subdivision shall be retained by the public governmental body in the same
manner as any other public record;

(7) "Public vote", any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone,
or by any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any
public governmental body. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 1, A.L. 1977 H.B. 130, A.L.
1978 H.B. 882, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1979) Springfield board of public utilities is a "public governmental
body" within the meaning of the Open Meetings Act. State ex rel. Board of
Public Utilities v. Crow (A.), 592 S.W.2d 285.

(1984) A single member body may be a "governmental entity" for purposes
of sunshine law, which is to be liberally construed in favor of open
government. McLachlan v. McNary (Mo. App.), 684 S.W.2d 534.

(1996) Official meetings of federal governmental bodies are not subject
to the Missouri Sunshine Act. In Re Kansas City Star Co., 73 F.3d 191
(8th Cir.).

(2002) For-profit telecommunications utility with the power of eminent
domain, but without the power to tax, to formulate policies, or to
promulgate statutes, ordinances, or regulations, does not constitute a
public governmental body within meaning of section. Stewart v. Williams
Communications, Inc., 85 S.W.3d 29 (Mo.App. W.D.).

1. It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records,
votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open
to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to
610.200 shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly
construed to promote this public policy.

2. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public meetings of public
governmental bodies shall be open to the public as set forth in section
610.020, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open
to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in sections 610.023
to 610.026, and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be
recorded as set forth in section 610.015. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 2004 S.B.
1020, et al.)

Except as provided in section 610.021, rules authorized pursuant
to article III of the Missouri Constitution and as otherwise provided by
law, all votes shall be recorded, and if a roll call is taken, as to
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Any votes
taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All public
meetings shall be open to the public and public votes and public records
shall be open to the public for inspection and duplication. All votes
taken by roll call in meetings of a public governmental body consisting
of members who are all elected, except for the Missouri general assembly
and any committee established by a public governmental body, shall be
cast by members of the public governmental body who are physically
present and in attendance at the meeting. When it is necessary to take
votes by roll call in a meeting of the public governmental body, due to
an emergency of the public body, with a quorum of the members of the
public body physically present and in attendance and less than a quorum
of the members of the public governmental body participating via
telephone, facsimile, Internet, or any other voice or electronic means,
the nature of the emergency of the public body justifying that departure
from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes. Where such
emergency exists, the votes taken shall be regarded as if all members
were physically present and in attendance at the meeting. (L. 1973 S.B. 1
§ 2, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time,
date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner
reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be
considered, and if the meeting will be conducted by telephone or other
electronic means, the notice of the meeting shall identify the mode by
which the meeting will be conducted and the designated location where the
public may observe and attend the meeting. If a public body plans to meet
by Internet chat, Internet message board, or other computer link, it
shall post a notice of the meeting on its web site in addition to its
principal office and shall notify the public how to access that meeting.
Reasonable notice shall include making available copies of the notice to
any representative of the news media who requests notice of meetings of a
particular public governmental body concurrent with the notice being made
available to the members of the particular governmental body and posting
the notice on a bulletin board or other prominent place which is easily
accessible to the public and clearly designated for that purpose at the
principal office of the body holding the meeting, or if no such office
exists, at the building in which the meeting is to be held.

2. Notice conforming with all of the requirements of subsection 1 of this
section shall be given at least twenty-four hours, exclusive of weekends
and holidays when the facility is closed, prior to the commencement of
any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is
impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably
possible shall be given. Each meeting shall be held at a place reasonably
accessible to the public and of sufficient size to accommodate the
anticipated attendance by members of the public, and at a time reasonably
convenient to the public, unless for good cause such a place or time is
impossible or impractical. Every reasonable effort shall be made to grant
special access to the meeting to handicapped or disabled individuals.

3. A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape,
or other electronic means of any open meeting. A public body may
establish guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is
conducted so as to minimize disruption to the meeting. No audio recording
of any meeting, record, or vote closed pursuant to the provisions of
section 610.021 shall be permitted without permission of the public body;
any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a class C
misdemeanor.

4. When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four hours'
notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public, or
at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the nature of
the good cause justifying that departure from the normal requirements
shall be stated in the minutes.

5. A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may
conduct a meeting without notice as required by this section during a
lawful meeting of the parent governmental body, a recess in that meeting,
or immediately following that meeting, if the meeting of the subunit is
publicly announced at the parent meeting and the subject of the meeting
reasonably coincides with the subjects discussed or acted upon by the
parent governmental body.

6. If another provision of law requires a manner of giving specific
notice of a meeting, hearing or an intent to take action by a
governmental body, compliance with that section shall constitute
compliance with the notice requirements of this section.

7. A journal or minutes of open and closed meetings shall be taken and
retained by the public governmental body, including, but not limited to,
a record of any votes taken at such meeting. The minutes shall include
the date, time, place, members present, members absent and a record of
any votes taken. When a roll call vote is taken, the minutes shall
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote or abstinence if not voting to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. (L. 1973
S.B. 1 § 3, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

Except to the extent disclosure is otherwise required by law, a
public governmental body is authorized to close meetings, records and
votes, to the extent they relate to the following:

(1) Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating to
legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its interests or
acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance
company acting on behalf of a public government body as its insured,
shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon or
upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is ordered closed by
a court after a written finding that the adverse impact to a plaintiff or
plaintiffs to the action clearly outweighs the public policy
considerations of section 610.011, however, the amount of any moneys paid
by, or on behalf of, the public governmental body shall be disclosed;
provided, however, in matters involving the exercise of the power of
eminent domain, the vote shall be announced or become public immediately
following the action on the motion to authorize institution of such a
legal action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed record;

(2) Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the
legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes, vote or public record
approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or sale of real
estate by a public governmental body shall be made public upon execution
of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate;

(3) Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by
a public governmental body when personal information about the employee
is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision, when
taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or discipline
an employee of a public governmental body shall be made available with a
record of how each member voted to the public within seventy-two hours of
the close of the meeting where such action occurs; provided, however,
that any employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt notice of such
decision during the seventy-two-hour period before such decision is made
available to the public. As used in this subdivision, the term "personal
information" means information relating to the performance or merit of
individual employees;

(4) The state militia or national guard or any part thereof;

(5) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving
identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or
alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment;

(6) Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of identifiable
individuals, including records of individual test or examination scores;
however, personally identifiable student records maintained by public
educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents,
guardian or other custodian of students under the age of eighteen years
and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if the
student is over the age of eighteen years;

(7) Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination is
given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again;

(8) Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;

(9) Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of
a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with
employee groups;

(10) Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation
thereof;

(11) Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the
specifications are officially approved by the public governmental body or
the specifications are published for bid;

(12) Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened; and
sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to a
negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals are
rejected;

(13) Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or
records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that
this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries and
lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they
are employed as such, and the names of private sources donating or
contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or president at all
public colleges and universities in the state of Missouri and the amount
of money contributed by the source;

(14) Records which are protected from disclosure by law;

(15) Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest;

(16) Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing;

(17) Confidential or privileged communications between a public
governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product;
however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be
considered open records pursuant to this chapter;

*(18) Operational guidelines and policies developed, adopted, or
maintained by any public agency responsible for law enforcement, public
safety, first response, or public health for use in responding to or
preventing any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist in
nature and which has the potential to endanger individual or public
safety or health. Nothing in this exception shall be deemed to close
information regarding expenditures, purchases, or contracts made by an
agency in implementing these guidelines or policies. When seeking to
close information pursuant to this exception, the agency shall
affirmatively state in writing that disclosure would impair its ability
to protect the safety or health of persons, and shall in the same writing
state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public
interest in disclosure of the records. This exception shall sunset on
December 31, 2008;

*(19) Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that body to
devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public disclosure
of which would threaten public safety:

(a) Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to
security systems purchased with public funds shall be open;

(b) When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the
public governmental body shall affirmatively state in writing that
disclosure would impair the public governmental body's ability to protect
the security or safety of persons or real property, and shall in the same
writing state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the
public interest in disclosure of the records;

(c) Records that are voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity shall be
reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety days of submission to
determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance of a
state security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents
shall be returned to the nonpublic governmental body or destroyed;

(d) This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2008;

(20) Records that identify the configuration of components or the
operation of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network, and would allow unauthorized access to or
unlawful disruption of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network of a public governmental body. This exception
shall not be used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in
a file, document, data file or database containing public records.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such
computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network, including the amount of moneys paid by, or on behalf of, a
public governmental body for such computer, computer system, computer
network, or telecommunications network shall be open; and

(21) Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital
certificates, physical and virtual keys, access codes or authorization
codes that are used to protect the security of electronic transactions
between a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business
with a public governmental body. Nothing in this section shall be deemed
to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held in the
name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction made by
a person using a credit card or other method of payment for which
reimbursement is made by a public governmental body. (L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1995 H.B. 562, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2002
S.B. 712, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

*Subsections 18 and 19 of this section expire 12-31-08

CROSS REFERENCES: Child's school records to be released to parents,
attorney's fees and costs assessed, when, RSMo 452.375 General assembly
closed meetings prohibited, when, Const. Art. III, Sec. 20. Parent's
right to receive school progress reports, administrative fee to be set by
school, when, RSMo 452.376

(1988) Provisions of section 610.021 relating to closed meetings and
votes does not apply to disciplinary actions against license holders and
subject of disciplinary action may secure records pertaining to action
from licensing agency. Christiansen v. State Bd. of Accountancy, 764
S.W.2d 943 (Mo.App.).

(1991) City properly labeled as personnel records investigative reports
of police officers made in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings, and
the city had the authority, under Missouri state law and city ordinances
to close the records from public scrutiny. Wolfskill v. Henderson, 823
S.W.2d 112 (Mo. App.).

1. Except as set forth in subsection 2 of this section, no
meeting or vote may be closed without an affirmative public vote of the
majority of a quorum of the public governmental body. The vote of each
member of the public governmental body on the question of closing a
public meeting or vote and the specific reason for closing that public
meeting or vote by reference to a specific section of this chapter shall
be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and
entered into the minutes.

2. A public governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote
shall give notice of the time, date and place of such closed meeting or
vote and the reason for holding it by reference to the specific exception
allowed pursuant to the provisions of section 610.021. Such notice shall
comply with the procedures set forth in section 610.020 for notice of a
public meeting.

3. Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to section 610.021 shall be closed
only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify
the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies shall not discuss
any business in a closed meeting, record or vote which does not directly
relate to the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or
vote. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting shall close
only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary to house the
members of the public governmental body in the closed session, allowing
members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent open session
held by the public governmental body following the closed session.

4. Nothing in sections 610.010 to 610.028 shall be construed as to
require a public governmental body to hold a closed meeting, record or
vote to discuss or act upon any matter.

5. Public records shall be presumed to be open unless otherwise exempt
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

6. In the event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion
to close a meeting, or a record, or a vote from the public and any other
member believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting,
record or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provision
in this chapter, such latter member shall state his or her objection to
the motion at or before the time the vote is taken on the motion. The
public governmental body shall enter in the minutes of the public
governmental body any objection made pursuant to this subsection. Any
member making such an objection shall be allowed to fully participate in
any meeting, record or vote that is closed from the public over the
member's objection. In the event the objecting member also voted in
opposition to the motion to close the meeting, record or vote at issue,
the objection and vote of the member as entered in the minutes shall be
an absolute defense to any claim filed against the objecting member
pursuant to section 610.027. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L.
1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1993) A school board's workshop designed to improve effective
communication and group interaction did not violate open meetings law
because no public business was discussed. Kansas City Star Co. v. Fulson,
859 S.W.2d 934 (Mo. App. W.D.).

1. Each public governmental body is to appoint a custodian who
is to be responsible for the maintenance of that body's records. The
identity and location of a public governmental body's custodian is to be
made available upon request.

2. Each public governmental body shall make available for inspection and
copying by the public of that body's public records. No person shall
remove original public records from the office of a public governmental
body or its custodian without written permission of the designated
custodian. No public governmental body shall, after August 28, 1998,
grant to any person or entity, whether by contract, license or otherwise,
the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public record unless
the granting of such right is necessary to facilitate coordination with,
or uniformity among, industry regulators having similar authority.

3. Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon
as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third business day
following the date the request is received by the custodian of records of
a public governmental body. If records are requested in a certain format,
the public body shall provide the records in the requested format, if
such format is available. If access to the public record is not granted
immediately, the custodian shall give a detailed explanation of the cause
for further delay and the place and earliest time and date that the
record will be available for inspection. This period for document
production may exceed three days for reasonable cause.

4. If a request for access is denied, the custodian shall provide, upon
request, a written statement of the grounds for such denial. Such
statement shall cite the specific provision of law under which access is
denied and shall be furnished to the requester no later than the end of
the third business day following the date that the request for the
statement is received. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. If a public record contains material which is not exempt from
disclosure as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the
public governmental body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material
and make the nonexempt material available for examination and copying.

2. When designing a public record, a public governmental body shall, to
the extent practicable, facilitate a separation of exempt from nonexempt
information. If the separation is readily apparent to a person requesting
to inspect or receive copies of the form, the public governmental body
shall generally describe the material exempted unless that description
would reveal the contents of the exempt information and thus defeat the
purpose of the exemption. (L. 1993 H.B. 170)

Any member of a public governmental body who transmits any
message relating to public business by electronic means shall also
concurrently transmit that message to either the member's public office
computer or the custodian of records in the same format. The provisions
of this section shall only apply to messages sent to two or more members
of that body so that, when counting the sender, a majority of the body's
members are copied. Any such message received by the custodian or at the
member's office computer shall be a public record subject to the
exceptions of section 610.021. (L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental
body shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of public
records subject to the following:

(1) Fees for copying public records, except those records restricted
under section 32.091, RSMo, shall not exceed ten cents per page for a
paper copy not larger than nine by fourteen inches, with the hourly fee
for duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for
clerical staff of the public governmental body. Research time required
for fulfilling records requests may be charged at the actual cost of
research time. Based on the scope of the request, the public governmental
body shall produce the copies using employees of the body that result in
the lowest amount of charges for search, research, and duplication time.
Prior to producing copies of the requested records, the person requesting
the records may request the public governmental body to provide an
estimate of the cost to the person requesting the records. Documents may
be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public
governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in
the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to
public understanding of the operations or activities of the public
governmental body and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the
requester;

(2) Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer
facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items or
devices, and for paper copies larger than nine by fourteen inches shall
include only the cost of copies, staff time, which shall not exceed the
average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public governmental body
required for making copies and programming, if necessary, and the cost of
the disk, tape, or other medium used for the duplication. Fees for maps,
blueprints, or plats that require special expertise to duplicate may
include the actual rate of compensation for the trained personnel
required to duplicate such maps, blueprints, or plats. If programming is
required beyond the customary and usual level to comply with a request
for records or information, the fees for compliance may include the
actual costs of such programming.

2. Payment of such copying fees may be requested prior to the making of
copies.

3. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
the state shall remit all moneys received by or for it from fees charged
pursuant to this section to the director of revenue for deposit to the
general revenue fund of the state.

4. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
a political subdivision of the state shall remit all moneys received by
it or for it from fees charged pursuant to sections 610.010 to 610.028 to
the appropriate fiscal officer of such political subdivision for deposit
to the governmental body's accounts.

5. The term "tax, license or fees" as used in section 22 of article X of
the Constitution of the state of Missouri does not include copying
charges and related fees that do not exceed the level necessary to pay or
to continue to pay the costs for providing a service, program, or
activity which was in existence on November 4, 1980, or which was
approved by a vote of the people subsequent to November 4, 1980. (L. 1987
S.B. 2 § 610.025, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. The remedies provided by this section against public
governmental bodies shall be in addition to those provided by any other
provision of law. Any aggrieved person, taxpayer to, or citizen of, this
state, or the attorney general or prosecuting attorney, may seek judicial
enforcement of the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026. Suits to
enforce sections 610.010 to 610.026 shall be brought in the circuit court
for the county in which the public governmental body has its principal
place of business. Upon service of a summons, petition, complaint,
counterclaim, or cross-claim in a civil action brought to enforce the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.026, the custodian of the public
record that is the subject matter of such civil action shall not transfer
custody, alter, destroy, or otherwise dispose of the public record sought
to be inspected and examined, notwithstanding the applicability of an
exemption pursuant to section 610.021 or the assertion that the requested
record is not a public record until the court directs otherwise.

2. Once a party seeking judicial enforcement of sections 610.010 to
610.026 demonstrates to the court that the body in question is subject to
the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026 and has held a closed
meeting, record or vote, the burden of persuasion shall be on the body
and its members to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of
sections 610.010 to 610.026.

3. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has knowingly
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to one
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a knowing violation of
sections 610.010 to 610.026, the court may order the payment by such body
or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees to any party
successfully establishing a violation. The court shall determine the
amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of the
jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

4. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has purposely
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there was a purposeful
violation of sections 610.010 to 610.026, then the court shall order the
payment by such body or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees
to any party successfully establishing such a violation. The court shall
determine the amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of
the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

5. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body has violated any provision of sections 610.010 to
610.026, a court shall void any action taken in violation of sections
610.010 to 610.026, if the court finds under the facts of the particular
case that the public interest in the enforcement of the policy of
sections 610.010 to 610.026 outweighs the public interest in sustaining
the validity of the action taken in the closed meeting, record or vote.
Suit for enforcement shall be brought within one year from which the
violation is ascertainable and in no event shall it be brought later than
two years after the violation. This subsection shall not apply to an
action taken regarding the issuance of bonds or other evidence of
indebtedness of a public governmental body if a public hearing, election
or public sale has been held regarding the bonds or evidence of
indebtedness.

6. A public governmental body which is in doubt about the legality of
closing a particular meeting, record or vote may bring suit at the
expense of that public governmental body in the circuit court of the
county of the public governmental body's principal place of business to
ascertain the propriety of any such action, or seek a formal opinion of
the attorney general or an attorney for the governmental body. (L. 1982
H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1395 & 1448, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Any public governmental body may provide for the legal
defense of any member charged with a violation of sections 610.010 to
610.030.

2. Each public governmental body shall provide a reasonable written
policy in compliance with sections 610.010 to 610.030, open to public
inspection, regarding the release of information on any meeting, record
or vote and any member or employee of the public governmental body who
complies with the written policy is not guilty of a violation of the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.030 or subject to civil liability
for any act arising out of his adherence to the written policy of the
agency.

3. No person who in good faith reports a violation of the provisions of
sections 610.010 to 610.030 is civilly liable for making such report,
nor, if such person is an officer or employee of a public governmental
body, may such person be demoted, fired, suspended, or otherwise
disciplined for making such report. (L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 2004 H.B. 1548)

1. A public governmental body keeping its records in an
electronic format is strongly encouraged to provide access to its public
records to members of the public in an electronic format. A public
governmental body is strongly encouraged to make information available in
usable electronic formats to the greatest extent feasible. A public
governmental body may not enter into a contract for the creation or
maintenance of a public records database if that contract impairs the
ability of the public to inspect or copy the public records of that
agency, including public records that are on-line or stored in an
electronic record-keeping system used by the agency. Such contract may
not allow any impediment that as a practical matter makes it more
difficult for the public to inspect or copy the records than to inspect
or copy the public governmental body's records. For purposes of this
section, a usable electronic format shall allow, at a minimum, viewing
and printing of records. However, if the public governmental body keeps a
record on a system capable of allowing the copying of electronic
documents into other electronic documents, the public governmental body
shall provide data to the public in such electronic format, if requested.
The activities authorized pursuant to this section may not take priority
over the primary responsibilities of a public governmental body. For
purposes of this section the term "electronic services" means on-line
access or access via other electronic means to an electronic file or
database. This subsection shall not apply to contracts initially entered
into before August 28, 2004.

2. Public governmental bodies shall include in a contract for electronic
services provisions that:

(1) Protect the security and integrity of the information system of the
public governmental body and of information systems that are shared by
public governmental bodies; and

(2) Limit the liability of the public governmental body providing the
services.

3. Each public governmental body may consult with the division of data
processing and telecommunications of the office of administration to
develop the electronic services offered by the public governmental body
to the public pursuant to this section. (L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

The circuit courts of this state shall have the jurisdiction to
issue injunctions to enforce the provisions of sections 610.010 to
610.115. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 5, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. If an executive agency's records are closed by law, it may
not disclose any information contained in such closed records in any form
that would allow identification of individual persons or entities unless:

(1) Disclosure of such information is made to a person in that person's
official capacity representing an executive agency and the disclosure is
necessary for the requesting executive agency to perform its
constitutional or statutory duties; or

(2) Disclosure is otherwise required by law.

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including,
but not limited to, section 32.057, RSMo, such closed information may be
disclosed pursuant to this section; however, the providing executive
agency may request, as a condition of disclosing such information, that
the requesting executive agency submit:

(1) The constitutional or statutory duties necessitating the disclosure
of such information;

(2) The name and official capacity of the person or persons to whom such
information will be disclosed;

(3) An affirmation that such information will be used only in furtherance
of such constitutional or statutory duties; and

(4) The date upon which the access is requested to begin, when the
request is for continuous access.

3. Any executive agency receiving such a request for closed information
shall keep the request on file and shall only release such information to
the person or persons listed on such request. If the request is for
continuous access to such information, the executive agency shall honor
the request for a period of one year from the beginning date indicated on
such request. If the requesting executive agency requests such
information for more than one year, the agency shall provide an updated
request for closed information to the providing executive agency upon
expiration of the initial request.

4. Any person receiving or releasing closed information pursuant to this
section shall be subject to any laws, regulations or standards of the
providing executive agency regarding the confidentiality or misuse of
such information and shall be subject to any penalties provided by such
laws, regulations or standards for the violation of the confidentiality
or misuse of such information.

5. For the purposes of this section, "executive agency" means any
administrative governmental entity created by the constitution or
statutes of this state under the executive branch, including any
department, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee, board
of regents or board of curators of any institution of higher learning
supported in whole or in part by state funds, any subdivision of an
executive agency, and any legally designated agent of such entity. (L.
1994 S.B. 685)

Effective 5-10-94

No state entity shall publicly disclose any Social Security
number of a living person unless such disclosure is permitted by federal
law, federal regulation or state law or unless such disclosure is
authorized by the holder of that Social Security number or unless such
disclosure is for use in connection with any civil, criminal,
administrative or arbitral proceeding in any federal, state or local
court or agency or before any self-regulatory body, including the service
of process, investigation in anticipation of litigation and the execution
or enforcement of judgments and orders, or pursuant to an order of a
federal, state or local court. Notwithstanding any other provision of law
to the contrary, the disclosure of Social Security numbers of deceased
persons shall be lawful, provided that the state agency disclosing the
information knows of no reason why such disclosure would prove
detrimental to the deceased individual's estate or harmful to the
deceased individual's living relatives. For the purposes of this section,
"publicly disclose" shall not include the use of any Social Security
number by any state entity in the performance of any statutory or
constitutional duty or power or the disclosure of any Social Security
number to another state entity, political subdivision, agency of the
federal government, agency of another state or any private person or
entity acting on behalf of, or in cooperation with, a state entity. Any
person or entity receiving a Social Security number from any entity shall
be subject to the same confidentiality provisions as the disclosing
entity. For purposes of this section, "state entity" means any state
department, division, agency, bureau, board, commission, employee or any
agent thereof. When responding to any requests for public information
pursuant to this chapter, any costs incurred by any state entity
complying with the provisions of this section may be charged to the
requester of such information. (L. 1998 H.B. 1043 § 1, A.L. 1999 H.B. 453)

1. As used in sections 610.100 to 610.150, the following words
and phrases shall mean:

(1) "Arrest", an actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his or her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority of a
warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in the
issuance of a summons or the person being booked;

(2) "Arrest report", a record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest
and of any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the
charge therefor;

(3) "Inactive", an investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:

(a) A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case;

(b) Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to the
applicable statute of limitations, or ten years after the commission of
the offense; whichever date earliest occurs;

(c) Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the basis of
the information contained in the investigative report, by exhaustion of
or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons;

(4) "Incident report", a record of a law enforcement agency consisting of
the date, time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts
and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints
maintained by that agency;

(5) "Investigative report", a record, other than an arrest or incident
report, prepared by personnel of a law enforcement agency, inquiring into
a crime or suspected crime, either in response to an incident report or
in response to evidence developed by law enforcement officers in the
course of their duties.

2. Each law enforcement agency of this state, of any county, and of any
municipality shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the
agency, investigations and arrests made by such law enforcement agency.
All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of
subsections 4, 5 and 6 of this section or section 320.083, RSMo,
investigative reports of all law enforcement agencies are closed records
until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and
not charged with an offense against the law within thirty days of the
person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record
except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and
except as provided in section 610.120.

3. Except as provided in subsections 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this section, if
any portion of a record or document of a law enforcement officer or
agency, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open,
contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and
present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer,
or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including
records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain
confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose
techniques, procedures or guidelines for law enforcement investigations
or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be
redacted from any record made available pursuant to this chapter.

4. Any person, including a family member of such person within the first
degree of consanguinity if such person is deceased or incompetent,
attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or
whose property is involved in an incident, may obtain any records closed
pursuant to this section or section 610.150 for purposes of investigation
of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this subsection. Any
individual, his or her family member within the first degree of
consanguinity if such individual is deceased or incompetent, his or her
attorney or insurer, involved in an incident or whose property is
involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete
unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident, and may
obtain access to other records closed by a law enforcement agency
pursuant to this section. Within thirty days of such request, the agency
shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this
subsection with the circuit court having jurisdiction over the law
enforcement agency stating that the safety of the victim, witness or
other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal
investigation is likely to be jeopardized. If, based on such motion, the
court finds for the law enforcement agency, the court shall either order
the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be
closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this
subsection.

5. Any person may bring an action pursuant to this section in the circuit
court having jurisdiction to authorize disclosure of the information
contained in an investigative report of any law enforcement agency, which
would otherwise be closed pursuant to this section. The court may order
that all or part of the information contained in an investigative report
be released to the person bringing the action. In making the
determination as to whether information contained in an investigative
report shall be disclosed, the court shall consider whether the benefit
to the person bringing the action or to the public outweighs any harm to
the public, to the law enforcement agency or any of its officers, or to
any person identified in the investigative report in regard to the need
for law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate and prosecute
criminal activity. The investigative report in question may be examined
by the court in camera. The court may find that the party seeking
disclosure of the investigative report shall bear the reasonable and
necessary costs and attorneys' fees of both parties, unless the court
finds that the decision of the law enforcement agency not to open the
investigative report was substantially unjustified under all relevant
circumstances, and in that event, the court may assess such reasonable
and necessary costs and attorneys' fees to the law enforcement agency.

6. Any person may apply pursuant to this subsection to the circuit court
having jurisdiction for an order requiring a law enforcement agency to
open incident reports and arrest reports being unlawfully closed pursuant
to this section. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has knowingly violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to one thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a
knowing violation of this section, the court may order payment by such
officer or agency of all costs and attorneys' fees, as provided by
section 610.027. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has purposely violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to five thousand dollars and the court shall order payment by
such officer or agency of all costs and attorney fees, as provided in
section 610.027. The court shall determine the amount of the penalty by
taking into account the size of the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the
offense, and whether the law enforcement officer or agency has violated
this section previously.

7. The victim of an offense as provided in chapter 566, RSMo, may request
that his or her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to
such incident is filed. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 6, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554, A.L.
1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1994 S.B. 554, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al. merged with S.B. 1211)

(1986) Application of this block of sections to records kept before
September 28, 1973, does not violate constitutional ban on ex post facto
or retrospective legislation contained in section 13 of Article I of the
Missouri Constitution. Martin v. Schmalz, 713 S.W.2d 22 (Mo.App.).

(1993) Arrest records of venirepersons obtained by state did not violate
statute which required such records to be closed to general public.
Arrest records may be accessed for use in selecting jury. State v.
Johnson, 858 S.W.2d 254 (Mo. App. E.D.).

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
whenever a criminal background check is requested in connection with
gaining employment, housing or any other services or benefit of any
homeless former member of the organized militia or the armed forces of
the United States who has been honorably discharged, such background
check shall be completed and transmitted to the requesting party without
any fee or other compensation for such background check or copy of any
relevant public record pertaining to such request. For purposes of this
section "homeless" means an involuntary state characterized by a lack of
housing or shelter. (L. 1998 H.B. 1046)

If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently
nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is found not guilty or
imposition of sentence is suspended in the court in which the action is
prosecuted, official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be
closed records when such case is finally terminated except as provided in
section 610.120 and except that the court's judgment or order or the
final action taken by the prosecutor in such matters may be accessed. If
the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant
to section 552.030, RSMo, official records pertaining to the case shall
thereafter be closed records upon such findings, except that the
disposition may be accessed only by law enforcement agencies, child-care
agencies, facilities as defined in section 198.006, RSMo, and in-home
services provider agencies as defined in section 660.250, RSMo, in the
manner established by section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 7, A.L. 1981
H.B. 554, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2001 S.B. 267)

Any person as to whom imposition of sentence was suspended prior
to September 28, 1981, may make a motion to the court in which the action
was prosecuted after his discharge from the court's jurisdiction for
closure of official records pertaining to the case. If the prosecuting
authority opposes the motion, an informal hearing shall be held in which
technical rules of evidence shall not apply. Having regard to the nature
and circumstances of the offense and the history and character of the
defendant and upon a finding that the ends of justice are so served, the
court may order official records pertaining to the case to be closed,
except as provided in section 610.120. (L. 1981 H.B. 554)

(1985) Held, that a witness can be impeached by his prior guilty plea,
even though he had completed probation under a suspended imposition of
sentence. State v. Brooks, (A.) 694 S.W.2d 851.

No person as to whom such records have become closed records
shall thereafter, under any provision of law, be held to be guilty of
perjury or otherwise of giving a false statement by reason of his failure
to recite or acknowledge such arrest or trial in response to any inquiry
made of him for any purpose, except as provided in section 491.050, RSMo,
and section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 8, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

A person who knowingly violates any provision of section
610.100, 610.105, 610.106, or 610.120 is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
(L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 9, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

1. Records required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they
shall be inaccessible to the general public and to all persons other than
the defendant except as provided in this section and section 43.507,
RSMo. The closed records shall be available to: criminal justice agencies
for the administration of criminal justice pursuant to section 43.500,
RSMo, criminal justice employment, screening persons with access to
criminal justice facilities, procedures, and sensitive information; to
law enforcement agencies for issuance or renewal of a license, permit,
certification, or registration of authority from such agency including
but not limited to watchmen, security personnel, private investigators,
and persons seeking permits to purchase or possess a firearm; those
agencies authorized by section 43.543, RSMo, to submit and when
submitting fingerprints to the central repository; the sentencing
advisory commission created in section 558.019, RSMo, for the purpose of
studying sentencing practices in accordance with section 43.507, RSMo; to
qualified entities for the purpose of screening providers defined in
section 43.540, RSMo; the department of revenue for driver license
administration; the division of workers' compensation for the purposes of
determining eligibility for crime victims' compensation pursuant to
sections 595.010 to 595.075, RSMo, department of health and senior
services for the purpose of licensing and regulating facilities and
regulating in-home services provider agencies and federal agencies for
purposes of criminal justice administration, criminal justice employment,
child, elderly, or disabled care, and for such investigative purposes as
authorized by law or presidential executive order.

2. These records shall be made available only for the purposes and to the
entities listed in this section. A criminal justice agency receiving a
request for criminal history information under its control may require
positive identification, to include fingerprints of the subject of the
record search, prior to releasing closed record information.
Dissemination of closed and open records from the Missouri criminal
records repository shall be in accordance with section 43.509, RSMo. All
records which are closed records shall be removed from the records of the
courts, administrative agencies, and law enforcement agencies which are
available to the public and shall be kept in separate records which are
to be held confidential and, where possible, pages of the public record
shall be retyped or rewritten omitting those portions of the record which
deal with the defendant's case. If retyping or rewriting is not feasible
because of the permanent nature of the record books, such record entries
shall be blacked out and recopied in a confidential book. (L. 1981 H.B.
554, A.L. 1983 S.B. 72, A.L. 1989 S.B. 215 & 58, A.L. 1992 S.B. 573 &
634, A.L. 1994 H.B. 1677 merged with S.B. 554 merged with S.B. 763, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184)

Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, any
record of arrest recorded pursuant to section 43.503, RSMo, may be
expunged if the court determines that the arrest was based on false
information and the following conditions exist:

(1) There is no probable cause, at the time of the action to expunge, to
believe the individual committed the offense;

(2) No charges will be pursued as a result of the arrest;

(3) The subject of the arrest has no prior or subsequent misdemeanor or
felony convictions;

(4) The subject of the arrest did not receive a suspended imposition of
sentence for the offense for which the arrest was made or for any offense
related to the arrest; and

(5) No civil action is pending relating to the arrest or the records
sought to be expunged. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 1 merged with H.B. 562 § 11,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

(2000) Section does not preclude expungement of arrest records of
arrestee who has been charged with and acquitted of an offense, but
acquittal alone is insufficient for expungement; burden is on that party
to affirmatively prove his or her innocence. Martinez v. State, 24 S.W.3d
10 (Mo.App.E.D.).

(2005) Statutory expungement of criminal records is civil in nature and
is constitutional under legislative procedural requirements and
provisions of ex post facto, equal protection, due process, and
separation of powers. In re Dyer, 163 S.W.3d 915 (Mo.banc).

1. Any person who wishes to have a record of arrest expunged
pursuant to section 610.122 may file a verified petition for expungement
in the civil division of the circuit court in the county of the arrest as
provided in subsection 4 of this section. The petition shall include the
following information or shall be dismissed if the information is not
given:

(1) The petitioner's:

(a) Full name;

(b) Sex;

(c) Race;

(d) Date of birth;

(e) Driver's license number;

(f) Social Security number; and

(g) Address at the time of the arrest;

(2) The offense charged against the petitioner;

(3) The date the petitioner was arrested;

(4) The name of the county where the petitioner was arrested and if the
arrest occurred in a municipality, the name of the municipality;

(5) The name of the agency that arrested the petitioner;

(6) The case number and court of the offense;

(7) Petitioner's fingerprints on a standard fingerprint card at the time
of filing a petition to expunge a record that will be forwarded to the
central repository for the sole purpose of positively identifying the
petitioner.

2. The petition shall name as defendants all law enforcement agencies,
courts, prosecuting attorneys, central state depositories of criminal
records or others who the petitioner has reason to believe may possess
the records subject to expungement. The court's order shall not affect
any person or entity not named as a defendant in the action.

3. The court shall set a hearing on the matter no sooner than thirty days
from the filing of the petition and shall give reasonable notice of the
hearing to each official or agency or other entity named in the petition.

4. If the court finds that the petitioner is entitled to expungement of
any record that is the subject of the petition, it shall enter an order
directing expungement. Upon granting of the order of expungement, the
records and files maintained in any administrative or court proceeding in
an associate or circuit division of the circuit court under this section
shall be confidential and only available to the parties or by order of
the court for good cause shown. A copy of the order shall be provided to
each agency identified in the petition pursuant to subsection 2 of this
section.

5. The supreme court shall promulgate rules establishing procedures for
the handling of cases filed pursuant to the provisions of this section
and section 610.122. Such procedures shall be similar to the procedures
established in chapter 482, RSMo, for the handling of small claims. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 2 merged with H.B. 562 § 12, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184, A.L. 2005 S.B. 422)

1. All records ordered to be expunged pursuant to section
610.123 shall be destroyed, except as provided in this section. If
destruction of the record is not feasible because of the permanent nature
of the record books, such record entries shall be blacked out. Entries of
a record ordered expunged pursuant to section 610.123 shall be removed
from all electronic files maintained with the state of Missouri. The
central repository shall request the Federal Bureau of Investigation
expunge the records from its files.

2. Any petitioner, or agency protesting the expungement, may appeal the
court's decision in the same manner as provided for other civil actions.
(L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 3 merged with H.B. 562 § 13)

1. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of
section 610.123 who knowingly fails to expunge or obliterate, or releases
arrest information which has been ordered expunged pursuant to section
610.123 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

2. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of section
610.123 who, knowing the records have been ordered expunged, uses the
arrest information for financial gain is guilty of a class D felony. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 4 merged with H.B. 562 § 14, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. An expungement of an arrest record shall not reflect on the
validity of the arrest and shall not be construed to indicate a lack of
probable cause for the arrest.

2. Except as provided by sections 610.122 to 610.126, the courts of this
state shall have no legal or equitable authority to close or expunge any
arrest record.

3. The petitioner shall not bring any action subsequent to the
expungement against any person or agency relating to the arrest described
in the expunged records. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 5 merged with H.B. 562 § 15,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135 merged with H.B. 174, et al.)

Except as provided by this section, any information acquired by
a law enforcement agency by way of a complaint or report of a crime made
by telephone contact using the emergency number, "911", shall be
inaccessible to the general public. However, information consisting of
the date, time, specific location and immediate facts and circumstances
surrounding the initial report of the crime or incident shall be
considered to be an incident report and subject to section 610.100. Any
closed records pursuant to this section shall be available upon request
by law enforcement agencies or the division of workers' compensation or
pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and
good cause shown. (L. 1988 H.B. 1667 § 1, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

All law enforcement agencies that maintain a daily log or record
that lists suspected crimes, accidents, or complaints shall make
available the following information for inspection and copying by the
public:

(1) The time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for
assistance received by the agency;

(2) The time and nature of the agency's response to all complaints or
requests for assistance; and

(3) If the incident involves an alleged crime or infraction:

(a) The time, date, and location of occurrence;

(b) The name and age of any victim, unless the victim is a victim of a
crime under chapter 566, RSMo;

(c) The factual circumstances surrounding the incident; and

(d) A general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.
(L. 1995 H.B. 135 § 1, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2000 H.B. 1289, A.L.
2004 H.B. 1660 merged with S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Records and documents relating to tax credits submitted as
part of the application for all tax credits to any department of this
state, board, or commission authorized to issue or authorize or recommend
the authorization of tax credits shall be deemed closed records until
such time as the information submitted does not concern a pending
application, and except as limited by other provision of law concerning
closed records. For the purposes of this subsection, a "pending
application" shall mean any application for credits that has not yet been
authorized. In the case of partial authorization of credits, the
completed authorization of a single credit shall be sufficient to
constitute full authorization to the extent that the authorized credit or
credits relate to the same application as the credits that have not yet
been authorized.

2. Upon a request for opening of records and documents relating to all
tax credit programs, as defined in section 135.800, RSMo, submitted in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, except as limited by the
provision of subsection 1 of this section, the agency that is the
recipient of the open records request shall make information available
consistent with the provisions of this chapter. Where a single record or
document contains both open and closed records, the agency shall make a
redacted version of such record or document available in order to protect
the information that would otherwise make the record or document a closed
record. Staff time required for such redaction shall constitute an
activity for which a fee can be collected pursuant to section 610.026.

3. As used in this section "closed record" shall mean closed record as
defined in section 610.010. (L. 2004 S.B. 1099 § 610.255)

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:

(1) "Closed meeting", "closed record", or "closed vote", any meeting,
record or vote closed to the public;

(2) "Copying", if requested by a member of the public, copies provided as
detailed in section 610.026, if duplication equipment is available;

(3) "Public business", all matters which relate in any way to the
performance of the public governmental body's functions or the conduct of
its business;

(4) "Public governmental body", any legislative, administrative or
governmental entity created by the constitution or statutes of this
state, by order or ordinance of any political subdivision or district,
judicial entities when operating in an administrative capacity, or by
executive order, including:

(a) Any body, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee,
board of regents or board of curators or any other governing body of any
institution of higher education, including a community college, which is
supported in whole or in part from state funds, including but not limited
to the administrative entity known as "The Curators of the University of
Missouri" as established by section 172.020, RSMo;

(b) Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the governor by
executive order;

(c) Any department or division of the state, of any political subdivision
of the state, of any county or of any municipal government, school
district or special purpose district including but not limited to sewer
districts, water districts, and other subdistricts of any political
subdivision;

(d) Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three or more elected or appointed members
having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power;

(e) Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the entities
and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named entities, any
advisory committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the named
entities for the specific purpose of recommending, directly to the public
governmental body's governing board or its chief administrative officer,
policy or policy revisions or expenditures of public funds including, but
not limited to, entities created to advise bi-state taxing districts
regarding the expenditure of public funds, or any policy advisory body,
policy advisory committee or policy advisory group appointed by a
president, chancellor or chief executive officer of any college or
university system or individual institution at the direction of the
governing body of such institution which is supported in whole or in part
with state funds for the specific purpose of recommending directly to the
public governmental body's governing board or the president, chancellor
or chief executive officer policy, policy revisions or expenditures of
public funds provided, however, the staff of the college or university
president, chancellor or chief executive officer shall not constitute
such a policy advisory committee. The custodian of the records of any
public governmental body shall maintain a list of the policy advisory
committees described in this subdivision;

(f) Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership organized
or authorized to do business in this state pursuant to the provisions of
chapter 352, 353, or 355, RSMo, or unincorporated association which
either:

a. Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in activities carried out
pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies; or

b. Performs a public function as evidenced by a statutorily based
capacity to confer or otherwise advance, through approval, recommendation
or other means, the allocation or issuance of tax credits, tax abatement,
public debt, tax-exempt debt, rights of eminent domain, or the
contracting of leaseback agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from a public governmental body, but
only to the extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such
appropriation; and

(g) Any bi-state development agency established pursuant to section
70.370, RSMo;

(5) "Public meeting", any meeting of a public governmental body subject
to sections 610.010 to 610.030 at which any public business is discussed,
decided, or public policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted
in person or by means of communication equipment, including, but not
limited to, conference call, video conference, Internet chat, or Internet
message board. The term "public meeting" shall not include an informal
gathering of members of a public governmental body for ministerial or
social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the purposes of this
chapter, but the term shall include a public vote of all or a majority of
the members of a public governmental body, by electronic communication or
any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public meeting with the
members of the public governmental body gathered at one location in order
to conduct public business;

(6) "Public record", any record, whether written or electronically
stored, retained by or of any public governmental body including any
report, survey, memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the
public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service
paid for in whole or in part by public funds, including records created
or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a public
governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body; provided,
however, that personally identifiable student records maintained by
public educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the
parents, guardian or other custodian of students under the age of
eighteen years and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the
student if the student is over the age of eighteen years. The term
"public record" shall not include any internal memorandum or letter
received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public governmental
body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations in connection
with the deliberative decision-making process of said body, unless such
records are retained by the public governmental body or presented at a
public meeting. Any document or study prepared for a public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service as described in this
subdivision shall be retained by the public governmental body in the same
manner as any other public record;

(7) "Public vote", any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone,
or by any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any
public governmental body. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 1, A.L. 1977 H.B. 130, A.L.
1978 H.B. 882, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1979) Springfield board of public utilities is a "public governmental
body" within the meaning of the Open Meetings Act. State ex rel. Board of
Public Utilities v. Crow (A.), 592 S.W.2d 285.

(1984) A single member body may be a "governmental entity" for purposes
of sunshine law, which is to be liberally construed in favor of open
government. McLachlan v. McNary (Mo. App.), 684 S.W.2d 534.

(1996) Official meetings of federal governmental bodies are not subject
to the Missouri Sunshine Act. In Re Kansas City Star Co., 73 F.3d 191
(8th Cir.).

(2002) For-profit telecommunications utility with the power of eminent
domain, but without the power to tax, to formulate policies, or to
promulgate statutes, ordinances, or regulations, does not constitute a
public governmental body within meaning of section. Stewart v. Williams
Communications, Inc., 85 S.W.3d 29 (Mo.App. W.D.).

1. It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records,
votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open
to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to
610.200 shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly
construed to promote this public policy.

2. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public meetings of public
governmental bodies shall be open to the public as set forth in section
610.020, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open
to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in sections 610.023
to 610.026, and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be
recorded as set forth in section 610.015. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 2004 S.B.
1020, et al.)

Except as provided in section 610.021, rules authorized pursuant
to article III of the Missouri Constitution and as otherwise provided by
law, all votes shall be recorded, and if a roll call is taken, as to
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Any votes
taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All public
meetings shall be open to the public and public votes and public records
shall be open to the public for inspection and duplication. All votes
taken by roll call in meetings of a public governmental body consisting
of members who are all elected, except for the Missouri general assembly
and any committee established by a public governmental body, shall be
cast by members of the public governmental body who are physically
present and in attendance at the meeting. When it is necessary to take
votes by roll call in a meeting of the public governmental body, due to
an emergency of the public body, with a quorum of the members of the
public body physically present and in attendance and less than a quorum
of the members of the public governmental body participating via
telephone, facsimile, Internet, or any other voice or electronic means,
the nature of the emergency of the public body justifying that departure
from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes. Where such
emergency exists, the votes taken shall be regarded as if all members
were physically present and in attendance at the meeting. (L. 1973 S.B. 1
§ 2, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time,
date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner
reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be
considered, and if the meeting will be conducted by telephone or other
electronic means, the notice of the meeting shall identify the mode by
which the meeting will be conducted and the designated location where the
public may observe and attend the meeting. If a public body plans to meet
by Internet chat, Internet message board, or other computer link, it
shall post a notice of the meeting on its web site in addition to its
principal office and shall notify the public how to access that meeting.
Reasonable notice shall include making available copies of the notice to
any representative of the news media who requests notice of meetings of a
particular public governmental body concurrent with the notice being made
available to the members of the particular governmental body and posting
the notice on a bulletin board or other prominent place which is easily
accessible to the public and clearly designated for that purpose at the
principal office of the body holding the meeting, or if no such office
exists, at the building in which the meeting is to be held.

2. Notice conforming with all of the requirements of subsection 1 of this
section shall be given at least twenty-four hours, exclusive of weekends
and holidays when the facility is closed, prior to the commencement of
any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is
impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably
possible shall be given. Each meeting shall be held at a place reasonably
accessible to the public and of sufficient size to accommodate the
anticipated attendance by members of the public, and at a time reasonably
convenient to the public, unless for good cause such a place or time is
impossible or impractical. Every reasonable effort shall be made to grant
special access to the meeting to handicapped or disabled individuals.

3. A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape,
or other electronic means of any open meeting. A public body may
establish guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is
conducted so as to minimize disruption to the meeting. No audio recording
of any meeting, record, or vote closed pursuant to the provisions of
section 610.021 shall be permitted without permission of the public body;
any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a class C
misdemeanor.

4. When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four hours'
notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public, or
at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the nature of
the good cause justifying that departure from the normal requirements
shall be stated in the minutes.

5. A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may
conduct a meeting without notice as required by this section during a
lawful meeting of the parent governmental body, a recess in that meeting,
or immediately following that meeting, if the meeting of the subunit is
publicly announced at the parent meeting and the subject of the meeting
reasonably coincides with the subjects discussed or acted upon by the
parent governmental body.

6. If another provision of law requires a manner of giving specific
notice of a meeting, hearing or an intent to take action by a
governmental body, compliance with that section shall constitute
compliance with the notice requirements of this section.

7. A journal or minutes of open and closed meetings shall be taken and
retained by the public governmental body, including, but not limited to,
a record of any votes taken at such meeting. The minutes shall include
the date, time, place, members present, members absent and a record of
any votes taken. When a roll call vote is taken, the minutes shall
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote or abstinence if not voting to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. (L. 1973
S.B. 1 § 3, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

Except to the extent disclosure is otherwise required by law, a
public governmental body is authorized to close meetings, records and
votes, to the extent they relate to the following:

(1) Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating to
legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its interests or
acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance
company acting on behalf of a public government body as its insured,
shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon or
upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is ordered closed by
a court after a written finding that the adverse impact to a plaintiff or
plaintiffs to the action clearly outweighs the public policy
considerations of section 610.011, however, the amount of any moneys paid
by, or on behalf of, the public governmental body shall be disclosed;
provided, however, in matters involving the exercise of the power of
eminent domain, the vote shall be announced or become public immediately
following the action on the motion to authorize institution of such a
legal action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed record;

(2) Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the
legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes, vote or public record
approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or sale of real
estate by a public governmental body shall be made public upon execution
of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate;

(3) Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by
a public governmental body when personal information about the employee
is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision, when
taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or discipline
an employee of a public governmental body shall be made available with a
record of how each member voted to the public within seventy-two hours of
the close of the meeting where such action occurs; provided, however,
that any employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt notice of such
decision during the seventy-two-hour period before such decision is made
available to the public. As used in this subdivision, the term "personal
information" means information relating to the performance or merit of
individual employees;

(4) The state militia or national guard or any part thereof;

(5) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving
identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or
alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment;

(6) Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of identifiable
individuals, including records of individual test or examination scores;
however, personally identifiable student records maintained by public
educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents,
guardian or other custodian of students under the age of eighteen years
and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if the
student is over the age of eighteen years;

(7) Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination is
given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again;

(8) Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;

(9) Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of
a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with
employee groups;

(10) Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation
thereof;

(11) Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the
specifications are officially approved by the public governmental body or
the specifications are published for bid;

(12) Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened; and
sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to a
negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals are
rejected;

(13) Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or
records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that
this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries and
lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they
are employed as such, and the names of private sources donating or
contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or president at all
public colleges and universities in the state of Missouri and the amount
of money contributed by the source;

(14) Records which are protected from disclosure by law;

(15) Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest;

(16) Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing;

(17) Confidential or privileged communications between a public
governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product;
however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be
considered open records pursuant to this chapter;

*(18) Operational guidelines and policies developed, adopted, or
maintained by any public agency responsible for law enforcement, public
safety, first response, or public health for use in responding to or
preventing any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist in
nature and which has the potential to endanger individual or public
safety or health. Nothing in this exception shall be deemed to close
information regarding expenditures, purchases, or contracts made by an
agency in implementing these guidelines or policies. When seeking to
close information pursuant to this exception, the agency shall
affirmatively state in writing that disclosure would impair its ability
to protect the safety or health of persons, and shall in the same writing
state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public
interest in disclosure of the records. This exception shall sunset on
December 31, 2008;

*(19) Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that body to
devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public disclosure
of which would threaten public safety:

(a) Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to
security systems purchased with public funds shall be open;

(b) When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the
public governmental body shall affirmatively state in writing that
disclosure would impair the public governmental body's ability to protect
the security or safety of persons or real property, and shall in the same
writing state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the
public interest in disclosure of the records;

(c) Records that are voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity shall be
reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety days of submission to
determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance of a
state security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents
shall be returned to the nonpublic governmental body or destroyed;

(d) This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2008;

(20) Records that identify the configuration of components or the
operation of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network, and would allow unauthorized access to or
unlawful disruption of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network of a public governmental body. This exception
shall not be used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in
a file, document, data file or database containing public records.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such
computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network, including the amount of moneys paid by, or on behalf of, a
public governmental body for such computer, computer system, computer
network, or telecommunications network shall be open; and

(21) Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital
certificates, physical and virtual keys, access codes or authorization
codes that are used to protect the security of electronic transactions
between a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business
with a public governmental body. Nothing in this section shall be deemed
to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held in the
name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction made by
a person using a credit card or other method of payment for which
reimbursement is made by a public governmental body. (L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1995 H.B. 562, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2002
S.B. 712, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

*Subsections 18 and 19 of this section expire 12-31-08

CROSS REFERENCES: Child's school records to be released to parents,
attorney's fees and costs assessed, when, RSMo 452.375 General assembly
closed meetings prohibited, when, Const. Art. III, Sec. 20. Parent's
right to receive school progress reports, administrative fee to be set by
school, when, RSMo 452.376

(1988) Provisions of section 610.021 relating to closed meetings and
votes does not apply to disciplinary actions against license holders and
subject of disciplinary action may secure records pertaining to action
from licensing agency. Christiansen v. State Bd. of Accountancy, 764
S.W.2d 943 (Mo.App.).

(1991) City properly labeled as personnel records investigative reports
of police officers made in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings, and
the city had the authority, under Missouri state law and city ordinances
to close the records from public scrutiny. Wolfskill v. Henderson, 823
S.W.2d 112 (Mo. App.).

1. Except as set forth in subsection 2 of this section, no
meeting or vote may be closed without an affirmative public vote of the
majority of a quorum of the public governmental body. The vote of each
member of the public governmental body on the question of closing a
public meeting or vote and the specific reason for closing that public
meeting or vote by reference to a specific section of this chapter shall
be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and
entered into the minutes.

2. A public governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote
shall give notice of the time, date and place of such closed meeting or
vote and the reason for holding it by reference to the specific exception
allowed pursuant to the provisions of section 610.021. Such notice shall
comply with the procedures set forth in section 610.020 for notice of a
public meeting.

3. Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to section 610.021 shall be closed
only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify
the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies shall not discuss
any business in a closed meeting, record or vote which does not directly
relate to the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or
vote. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting shall close
only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary to house the
members of the public governmental body in the closed session, allowing
members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent open session
held by the public governmental body following the closed session.

4. Nothing in sections 610.010 to 610.028 shall be construed as to
require a public governmental body to hold a closed meeting, record or
vote to discuss or act upon any matter.

5. Public records shall be presumed to be open unless otherwise exempt
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

6. In the event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion
to close a meeting, or a record, or a vote from the public and any other
member believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting,
record or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provision
in this chapter, such latter member shall state his or her objection to
the motion at or before the time the vote is taken on the motion. The
public governmental body shall enter in the minutes of the public
governmental body any objection made pursuant to this subsection. Any
member making such an objection shall be allowed to fully participate in
any meeting, record or vote that is closed from the public over the
member's objection. In the event the objecting member also voted in
opposition to the motion to close the meeting, record or vote at issue,
the objection and vote of the member as entered in the minutes shall be
an absolute defense to any claim filed against the objecting member
pursuant to section 610.027. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L.
1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1993) A school board's workshop designed to improve effective
communication and group interaction did not violate open meetings law
because no public business was discussed. Kansas City Star Co. v. Fulson,
859 S.W.2d 934 (Mo. App. W.D.).

1. Each public governmental body is to appoint a custodian who
is to be responsible for the maintenance of that body's records. The
identity and location of a public governmental body's custodian is to be
made available upon request.

2. Each public governmental body shall make available for inspection and
copying by the public of that body's public records. No person shall
remove original public records from the office of a public governmental
body or its custodian without written permission of the designated
custodian. No public governmental body shall, after August 28, 1998,
grant to any person or entity, whether by contract, license or otherwise,
the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public record unless
the granting of such right is necessary to facilitate coordination with,
or uniformity among, industry regulators having similar authority.

3. Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon
as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third business day
following the date the request is received by the custodian of records of
a public governmental body. If records are requested in a certain format,
the public body shall provide the records in the requested format, if
such format is available. If access to the public record is not granted
immediately, the custodian shall give a detailed explanation of the cause
for further delay and the place and earliest time and date that the
record will be available for inspection. This period for document
production may exceed three days for reasonable cause.

4. If a request for access is denied, the custodian shall provide, upon
request, a written statement of the grounds for such denial. Such
statement shall cite the specific provision of law under which access is
denied and shall be furnished to the requester no later than the end of
the third business day following the date that the request for the
statement is received. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. If a public record contains material which is not exempt from
disclosure as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the
public governmental body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material
and make the nonexempt material available for examination and copying.

2. When designing a public record, a public governmental body shall, to
the extent practicable, facilitate a separation of exempt from nonexempt
information. If the separation is readily apparent to a person requesting
to inspect or receive copies of the form, the public governmental body
shall generally describe the material exempted unless that description
would reveal the contents of the exempt information and thus defeat the
purpose of the exemption. (L. 1993 H.B. 170)

Any member of a public governmental body who transmits any
message relating to public business by electronic means shall also
concurrently transmit that message to either the member's public office
computer or the custodian of records in the same format. The provisions
of this section shall only apply to messages sent to two or more members
of that body so that, when counting the sender, a majority of the body's
members are copied. Any such message received by the custodian or at the
member's office computer shall be a public record subject to the
exceptions of section 610.021. (L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental
body shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of public
records subject to the following:

(1) Fees for copying public records, except those records restricted
under section 32.091, RSMo, shall not exceed ten cents per page for a
paper copy not larger than nine by fourteen inches, with the hourly fee
for duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for
clerical staff of the public governmental body. Research time required
for fulfilling records requests may be charged at the actual cost of
research time. Based on the scope of the request, the public governmental
body shall produce the copies using employees of the body that result in
the lowest amount of charges for search, research, and duplication time.
Prior to producing copies of the requested records, the person requesting
the records may request the public governmental body to provide an
estimate of the cost to the person requesting the records. Documents may
be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public
governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in
the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to
public understanding of the operations or activities of the public
governmental body and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the
requester;

(2) Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer
facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items or
devices, and for paper copies larger than nine by fourteen inches shall
include only the cost of copies, staff time, which shall not exceed the
average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public governmental body
required for making copies and programming, if necessary, and the cost of
the disk, tape, or other medium used for the duplication. Fees for maps,
blueprints, or plats that require special expertise to duplicate may
include the actual rate of compensation for the trained personnel
required to duplicate such maps, blueprints, or plats. If programming is
required beyond the customary and usual level to comply with a request
for records or information, the fees for compliance may include the
actual costs of such programming.

2. Payment of such copying fees may be requested prior to the making of
copies.

3. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
the state shall remit all moneys received by or for it from fees charged
pursuant to this section to the director of revenue for deposit to the
general revenue fund of the state.

4. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
a political subdivision of the state shall remit all moneys received by
it or for it from fees charged pursuant to sections 610.010 to 610.028 to
the appropriate fiscal officer of such political subdivision for deposit
to the governmental body's accounts.

5. The term "tax, license or fees" as used in section 22 of article X of
the Constitution of the state of Missouri does not include copying
charges and related fees that do not exceed the level necessary to pay or
to continue to pay the costs for providing a service, program, or
activity which was in existence on November 4, 1980, or which was
approved by a vote of the people subsequent to November 4, 1980. (L. 1987
S.B. 2 § 610.025, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. The remedies provided by this section against public
governmental bodies shall be in addition to those provided by any other
provision of law. Any aggrieved person, taxpayer to, or citizen of, this
state, or the attorney general or prosecuting attorney, may seek judicial
enforcement of the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026. Suits to
enforce sections 610.010 to 610.026 shall be brought in the circuit court
for the county in which the public governmental body has its principal
place of business. Upon service of a summons, petition, complaint,
counterclaim, or cross-claim in a civil action brought to enforce the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.026, the custodian of the public
record that is the subject matter of such civil action shall not transfer
custody, alter, destroy, or otherwise dispose of the public record sought
to be inspected and examined, notwithstanding the applicability of an
exemption pursuant to section 610.021 or the assertion that the requested
record is not a public record until the court directs otherwise.

2. Once a party seeking judicial enforcement of sections 610.010 to
610.026 demonstrates to the court that the body in question is subject to
the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026 and has held a closed
meeting, record or vote, the burden of persuasion shall be on the body
and its members to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of
sections 610.010 to 610.026.

3. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has knowingly
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to one
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a knowing violation of
sections 610.010 to 610.026, the court may order the payment by such body
or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees to any party
successfully establishing a violation. The court shall determine the
amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of the
jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

4. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has purposely
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there was a purposeful
violation of sections 610.010 to 610.026, then the court shall order the
payment by such body or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees
to any party successfully establishing such a violation. The court shall
determine the amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of
the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

5. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body has violated any provision of sections 610.010 to
610.026, a court shall void any action taken in violation of sections
610.010 to 610.026, if the court finds under the facts of the particular
case that the public interest in the enforcement of the policy of
sections 610.010 to 610.026 outweighs the public interest in sustaining
the validity of the action taken in the closed meeting, record or vote.
Suit for enforcement shall be brought within one year from which the
violation is ascertainable and in no event shall it be brought later than
two years after the violation. This subsection shall not apply to an
action taken regarding the issuance of bonds or other evidence of
indebtedness of a public governmental body if a public hearing, election
or public sale has been held regarding the bonds or evidence of
indebtedness.

6. A public governmental body which is in doubt about the legality of
closing a particular meeting, record or vote may bring suit at the
expense of that public governmental body in the circuit court of the
county of the public governmental body's principal place of business to
ascertain the propriety of any such action, or seek a formal opinion of
the attorney general or an attorney for the governmental body. (L. 1982
H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1395 & 1448, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Any public governmental body may provide for the legal
defense of any member charged with a violation of sections 610.010 to
610.030.

2. Each public governmental body shall provide a reasonable written
policy in compliance with sections 610.010 to 610.030, open to public
inspection, regarding the release of information on any meeting, record
or vote and any member or employee of the public governmental body who
complies with the written policy is not guilty of a violation of the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.030 or subject to civil liability
for any act arising out of his adherence to the written policy of the
agency.

3. No person who in good faith reports a violation of the provisions of
sections 610.010 to 610.030 is civilly liable for making such report,
nor, if such person is an officer or employee of a public governmental
body, may such person be demoted, fired, suspended, or otherwise
disciplined for making such report. (L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 2004 H.B. 1548)

1. A public governmental body keeping its records in an
electronic format is strongly encouraged to provide access to its public
records to members of the public in an electronic format. A public
governmental body is strongly encouraged to make information available in
usable electronic formats to the greatest extent feasible. A public
governmental body may not enter into a contract for the creation or
maintenance of a public records database if that contract impairs the
ability of the public to inspect or copy the public records of that
agency, including public records that are on-line or stored in an
electronic record-keeping system used by the agency. Such contract may
not allow any impediment that as a practical matter makes it more
difficult for the public to inspect or copy the records than to inspect
or copy the public governmental body's records. For purposes of this
section, a usable electronic format shall allow, at a minimum, viewing
and printing of records. However, if the public governmental body keeps a
record on a system capable of allowing the copying of electronic
documents into other electronic documents, the public governmental body
shall provide data to the public in such electronic format, if requested.
The activities authorized pursuant to this section may not take priority
over the primary responsibilities of a public governmental body. For
purposes of this section the term "electronic services" means on-line
access or access via other electronic means to an electronic file or
database. This subsection shall not apply to contracts initially entered
into before August 28, 2004.

2. Public governmental bodies shall include in a contract for electronic
services provisions that:

(1) Protect the security and integrity of the information system of the
public governmental body and of information systems that are shared by
public governmental bodies; and

(2) Limit the liability of the public governmental body providing the
services.

3. Each public governmental body may consult with the division of data
processing and telecommunications of the office of administration to
develop the electronic services offered by the public governmental body
to the public pursuant to this section. (L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

The circuit courts of this state shall have the jurisdiction to
issue injunctions to enforce the provisions of sections 610.010 to
610.115. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 5, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. If an executive agency's records are closed by law, it may
not disclose any information contained in such closed records in any form
that would allow identification of individual persons or entities unless:

(1) Disclosure of such information is made to a person in that person's
official capacity representing an executive agency and the disclosure is
necessary for the requesting executive agency to perform its
constitutional or statutory duties; or

(2) Disclosure is otherwise required by law.

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including,
but not limited to, section 32.057, RSMo, such closed information may be
disclosed pursuant to this section; however, the providing executive
agency may request, as a condition of disclosing such information, that
the requesting executive agency submit:

(1) The constitutional or statutory duties necessitating the disclosure
of such information;

(2) The name and official capacity of the person or persons to whom such
information will be disclosed;

(3) An affirmation that such information will be used only in furtherance
of such constitutional or statutory duties; and

(4) The date upon which the access is requested to begin, when the
request is for continuous access.

3. Any executive agency receiving such a request for closed information
shall keep the request on file and shall only release such information to
the person or persons listed on such request. If the request is for
continuous access to such information, the executive agency shall honor
the request for a period of one year from the beginning date indicated on
such request. If the requesting executive agency requests such
information for more than one year, the agency shall provide an updated
request for closed information to the providing executive agency upon
expiration of the initial request.

4. Any person receiving or releasing closed information pursuant to this
section shall be subject to any laws, regulations or standards of the
providing executive agency regarding the confidentiality or misuse of
such information and shall be subject to any penalties provided by such
laws, regulations or standards for the violation of the confidentiality
or misuse of such information.

5. For the purposes of this section, "executive agency" means any
administrative governmental entity created by the constitution or
statutes of this state under the executive branch, including any
department, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee, board
of regents or board of curators of any institution of higher learning
supported in whole or in part by state funds, any subdivision of an
executive agency, and any legally designated agent of such entity. (L.
1994 S.B. 685)

Effective 5-10-94

No state entity shall publicly disclose any Social Security
number of a living person unless such disclosure is permitted by federal
law, federal regulation or state law or unless such disclosure is
authorized by the holder of that Social Security number or unless such
disclosure is for use in connection with any civil, criminal,
administrative or arbitral proceeding in any federal, state or local
court or agency or before any self-regulatory body, including the service
of process, investigation in anticipation of litigation and the execution
or enforcement of judgments and orders, or pursuant to an order of a
federal, state or local court. Notwithstanding any other provision of law
to the contrary, the disclosure of Social Security numbers of deceased
persons shall be lawful, provided that the state agency disclosing the
information knows of no reason why such disclosure would prove
detrimental to the deceased individual's estate or harmful to the
deceased individual's living relatives. For the purposes of this section,
"publicly disclose" shall not include the use of any Social Security
number by any state entity in the performance of any statutory or
constitutional duty or power or the disclosure of any Social Security
number to another state entity, political subdivision, agency of the
federal government, agency of another state or any private person or
entity acting on behalf of, or in cooperation with, a state entity. Any
person or entity receiving a Social Security number from any entity shall
be subject to the same confidentiality provisions as the disclosing
entity. For purposes of this section, "state entity" means any state
department, division, agency, bureau, board, commission, employee or any
agent thereof. When responding to any requests for public information
pursuant to this chapter, any costs incurred by any state entity
complying with the provisions of this section may be charged to the
requester of such information. (L. 1998 H.B. 1043 § 1, A.L. 1999 H.B. 453)

1. As used in sections 610.100 to 610.150, the following words
and phrases shall mean:

(1) "Arrest", an actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his or her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority of a
warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in the
issuance of a summons or the person being booked;

(2) "Arrest report", a record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest
and of any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the
charge therefor;

(3) "Inactive", an investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:

(a) A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case;

(b) Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to the
applicable statute of limitations, or ten years after the commission of
the offense; whichever date earliest occurs;

(c) Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the basis of
the information contained in the investigative report, by exhaustion of
or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons;

(4) "Incident report", a record of a law enforcement agency consisting of
the date, time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts
and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints
maintained by that agency;

(5) "Investigative report", a record, other than an arrest or incident
report, prepared by personnel of a law enforcement agency, inquiring into
a crime or suspected crime, either in response to an incident report or
in response to evidence developed by law enforcement officers in the
course of their duties.

2. Each law enforcement agency of this state, of any county, and of any
municipality shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the
agency, investigations and arrests made by such law enforcement agency.
All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of
subsections 4, 5 and 6 of this section or section 320.083, RSMo,
investigative reports of all law enforcement agencies are closed records
until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and
not charged with an offense against the law within thirty days of the
person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record
except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and
except as provided in section 610.120.

3. Except as provided in subsections 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this section, if
any portion of a record or document of a law enforcement officer or
agency, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open,
contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and
present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer,
or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including
records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain
confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose
techniques, procedures or guidelines for law enforcement investigations
or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be
redacted from any record made available pursuant to this chapter.

4. Any person, including a family member of such person within the first
degree of consanguinity if such person is deceased or incompetent,
attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or
whose property is involved in an incident, may obtain any records closed
pursuant to this section or section 610.150 for purposes of investigation
of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this subsection. Any
individual, his or her family member within the first degree of
consanguinity if such individual is deceased or incompetent, his or her
attorney or insurer, involved in an incident or whose property is
involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete
unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident, and may
obtain access to other records closed by a law enforcement agency
pursuant to this section. Within thirty days of such request, the agency
shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this
subsection with the circuit court having jurisdiction over the law
enforcement agency stating that the safety of the victim, witness or
other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal
investigation is likely to be jeopardized. If, based on such motion, the
court finds for the law enforcement agency, the court shall either order
the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be
closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this
subsection.

5. Any person may bring an action pursuant to this section in the circuit
court having jurisdiction to authorize disclosure of the information
contained in an investigative report of any law enforcement agency, which
would otherwise be closed pursuant to this section. The court may order
that all or part of the information contained in an investigative report
be released to the person bringing the action. In making the
determination as to whether information contained in an investigative
report shall be disclosed, the court shall consider whether the benefit
to the person bringing the action or to the public outweighs any harm to
the public, to the law enforcement agency or any of its officers, or to
any person identified in the investigative report in regard to the need
for law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate and prosecute
criminal activity. The investigative report in question may be examined
by the court in camera. The court may find that the party seeking
disclosure of the investigative report shall bear the reasonable and
necessary costs and attorneys' fees of both parties, unless the court
finds that the decision of the law enforcement agency not to open the
investigative report was substantially unjustified under all relevant
circumstances, and in that event, the court may assess such reasonable
and necessary costs and attorneys' fees to the law enforcement agency.

6. Any person may apply pursuant to this subsection to the circuit court
having jurisdiction for an order requiring a law enforcement agency to
open incident reports and arrest reports being unlawfully closed pursuant
to this section. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has knowingly violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to one thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a
knowing violation of this section, the court may order payment by such
officer or agency of all costs and attorneys' fees, as provided by
section 610.027. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has purposely violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to five thousand dollars and the court shall order payment by
such officer or agency of all costs and attorney fees, as provided in
section 610.027. The court shall determine the amount of the penalty by
taking into account the size of the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the
offense, and whether the law enforcement officer or agency has violated
this section previously.

7. The victim of an offense as provided in chapter 566, RSMo, may request
that his or her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to
such incident is filed. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 6, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554, A.L.
1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1994 S.B. 554, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al. merged with S.B. 1211)

(1986) Application of this block of sections to records kept before
September 28, 1973, does not violate constitutional ban on ex post facto
or retrospective legislation contained in section 13 of Article I of the
Missouri Constitution. Martin v. Schmalz, 713 S.W.2d 22 (Mo.App.).

(1993) Arrest records of venirepersons obtained by state did not violate
statute which required such records to be closed to general public.
Arrest records may be accessed for use in selecting jury. State v.
Johnson, 858 S.W.2d 254 (Mo. App. E.D.).

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
whenever a criminal background check is requested in connection with
gaining employment, housing or any other services or benefit of any
homeless former member of the organized militia or the armed forces of
the United States who has been honorably discharged, such background
check shall be completed and transmitted to the requesting party without
any fee or other compensation for such background check or copy of any
relevant public record pertaining to such request. For purposes of this
section "homeless" means an involuntary state characterized by a lack of
housing or shelter. (L. 1998 H.B. 1046)

If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently
nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is found not guilty or
imposition of sentence is suspended in the court in which the action is
prosecuted, official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be
closed records when such case is finally terminated except as provided in
section 610.120 and except that the court's judgment or order or the
final action taken by the prosecutor in such matters may be accessed. If
the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant
to section 552.030, RSMo, official records pertaining to the case shall
thereafter be closed records upon such findings, except that the
disposition may be accessed only by law enforcement agencies, child-care
agencies, facilities as defined in section 198.006, RSMo, and in-home
services provider agencies as defined in section 660.250, RSMo, in the
manner established by section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 7, A.L. 1981
H.B. 554, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2001 S.B. 267)

Any person as to whom imposition of sentence was suspended prior
to September 28, 1981, may make a motion to the court in which the action
was prosecuted after his discharge from the court's jurisdiction for
closure of official records pertaining to the case. If the prosecuting
authority opposes the motion, an informal hearing shall be held in which
technical rules of evidence shall not apply. Having regard to the nature
and circumstances of the offense and the history and character of the
defendant and upon a finding that the ends of justice are so served, the
court may order official records pertaining to the case to be closed,
except as provided in section 610.120. (L. 1981 H.B. 554)

(1985) Held, that a witness can be impeached by his prior guilty plea,
even though he had completed probation under a suspended imposition of
sentence. State v. Brooks, (A.) 694 S.W.2d 851.

No person as to whom such records have become closed records
shall thereafter, under any provision of law, be held to be guilty of
perjury or otherwise of giving a false statement by reason of his failure
to recite or acknowledge such arrest or trial in response to any inquiry
made of him for any purpose, except as provided in section 491.050, RSMo,
and section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 8, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

A person who knowingly violates any provision of section
610.100, 610.105, 610.106, or 610.120 is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
(L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 9, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

1. Records required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they
shall be inaccessible to the general public and to all persons other than
the defendant except as provided in this section and section 43.507,
RSMo. The closed records shall be available to: criminal justice agencies
for the administration of criminal justice pursuant to section 43.500,
RSMo, criminal justice employment, screening persons with access to
criminal justice facilities, procedures, and sensitive information; to
law enforcement agencies for issuance or renewal of a license, permit,
certification, or registration of authority from such agency including
but not limited to watchmen, security personnel, private investigators,
and persons seeking permits to purchase or possess a firearm; those
agencies authorized by section 43.543, RSMo, to submit and when
submitting fingerprints to the central repository; the sentencing
advisory commission created in section 558.019, RSMo, for the purpose of
studying sentencing practices in accordance with section 43.507, RSMo; to
qualified entities for the purpose of screening providers defined in
section 43.540, RSMo; the department of revenue for driver license
administration; the division of workers' compensation for the purposes of
determining eligibility for crime victims' compensation pursuant to
sections 595.010 to 595.075, RSMo, department of health and senior
services for the purpose of licensing and regulating facilities and
regulating in-home services provider agencies and federal agencies for
purposes of criminal justice administration, criminal justice employment,
child, elderly, or disabled care, and for such investigative purposes as
authorized by law or presidential executive order.

2. These records shall be made available only for the purposes and to the
entities listed in this section. A criminal justice agency receiving a
request for criminal history information under its control may require
positive identification, to include fingerprints of the subject of the
record search, prior to releasing closed record information.
Dissemination of closed and open records from the Missouri criminal
records repository shall be in accordance with section 43.509, RSMo. All
records which are closed records shall be removed from the records of the
courts, administrative agencies, and law enforcement agencies which are
available to the public and shall be kept in separate records which are
to be held confidential and, where possible, pages of the public record
shall be retyped or rewritten omitting those portions of the record which
deal with the defendant's case. If retyping or rewriting is not feasible
because of the permanent nature of the record books, such record entries
shall be blacked out and recopied in a confidential book. (L. 1981 H.B.
554, A.L. 1983 S.B. 72, A.L. 1989 S.B. 215 & 58, A.L. 1992 S.B. 573 &
634, A.L. 1994 H.B. 1677 merged with S.B. 554 merged with S.B. 763, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184)

Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, any
record of arrest recorded pursuant to section 43.503, RSMo, may be
expunged if the court determines that the arrest was based on false
information and the following conditions exist:

(1) There is no probable cause, at the time of the action to expunge, to
believe the individual committed the offense;

(2) No charges will be pursued as a result of the arrest;

(3) The subject of the arrest has no prior or subsequent misdemeanor or
felony convictions;

(4) The subject of the arrest did not receive a suspended imposition of
sentence for the offense for which the arrest was made or for any offense
related to the arrest; and

(5) No civil action is pending relating to the arrest or the records
sought to be expunged. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 1 merged with H.B. 562 § 11,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

(2000) Section does not preclude expungement of arrest records of
arrestee who has been charged with and acquitted of an offense, but
acquittal alone is insufficient for expungement; burden is on that party
to affirmatively prove his or her innocence. Martinez v. State, 24 S.W.3d
10 (Mo.App.E.D.).

(2005) Statutory expungement of criminal records is civil in nature and
is constitutional under legislative procedural requirements and
provisions of ex post facto, equal protection, due process, and
separation of powers. In re Dyer, 163 S.W.3d 915 (Mo.banc).

1. Any person who wishes to have a record of arrest expunged
pursuant to section 610.122 may file a verified petition for expungement
in the civil division of the circuit court in the county of the arrest as
provided in subsection 4 of this section. The petition shall include the
following information or shall be dismissed if the information is not
given:

(1) The petitioner's:

(a) Full name;

(b) Sex;

(c) Race;

(d) Date of birth;

(e) Driver's license number;

(f) Social Security number; and

(g) Address at the time of the arrest;

(2) The offense charged against the petitioner;

(3) The date the petitioner was arrested;

(4) The name of the county where the petitioner was arrested and if the
arrest occurred in a municipality, the name of the municipality;

(5) The name of the agency that arrested the petitioner;

(6) The case number and court of the offense;

(7) Petitioner's fingerprints on a standard fingerprint card at the time
of filing a petition to expunge a record that will be forwarded to the
central repository for the sole purpose of positively identifying the
petitioner.

2. The petition shall name as defendants all law enforcement agencies,
courts, prosecuting attorneys, central state depositories of criminal
records or others who the petitioner has reason to believe may possess
the records subject to expungement. The court's order shall not affect
any person or entity not named as a defendant in the action.

3. The court shall set a hearing on the matter no sooner than thirty days
from the filing of the petition and shall give reasonable notice of the
hearing to each official or agency or other entity named in the petition.

4. If the court finds that the petitioner is entitled to expungement of
any record that is the subject of the petition, it shall enter an order
directing expungement. Upon granting of the order of expungement, the
records and files maintained in any administrative or court proceeding in
an associate or circuit division of the circuit court under this section
shall be confidential and only available to the parties or by order of
the court for good cause shown. A copy of the order shall be provided to
each agency identified in the petition pursuant to subsection 2 of this
section.

5. The supreme court shall promulgate rules establishing procedures for
the handling of cases filed pursuant to the provisions of this section
and section 610.122. Such procedures shall be similar to the procedures
established in chapter 482, RSMo, for the handling of small claims. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 2 merged with H.B. 562 § 12, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184, A.L. 2005 S.B. 422)

1. All records ordered to be expunged pursuant to section
610.123 shall be destroyed, except as provided in this section. If
destruction of the record is not feasible because of the permanent nature
of the record books, such record entries shall be blacked out. Entries of
a record ordered expunged pursuant to section 610.123 shall be removed
from all electronic files maintained with the state of Missouri. The
central repository shall request the Federal Bureau of Investigation
expunge the records from its files.

2. Any petitioner, or agency protesting the expungement, may appeal the
court's decision in the same manner as provided for other civil actions.
(L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 3 merged with H.B. 562 § 13)

1. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of
section 610.123 who knowingly fails to expunge or obliterate, or releases
arrest information which has been ordered expunged pursuant to section
610.123 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

2. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of section
610.123 who, knowing the records have been ordered expunged, uses the
arrest information for financial gain is guilty of a class D felony. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 4 merged with H.B. 562 § 14, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. An expungement of an arrest record shall not reflect on the
validity of the arrest and shall not be construed to indicate a lack of
probable cause for the arrest.

2. Except as provided by sections 610.122 to 610.126, the courts of this
state shall have no legal or equitable authority to close or expunge any
arrest record.

3. The petitioner shall not bring any action subsequent to the
expungement against any person or agency relating to the arrest described
in the expunged records. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 5 merged with H.B. 562 § 15,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135 merged with H.B. 174, et al.)

Except as provided by this section, any information acquired by
a law enforcement agency by way of a complaint or report of a crime made
by telephone contact using the emergency number, "911", shall be
inaccessible to the general public. However, information consisting of
the date, time, specific location and immediate facts and circumstances
surrounding the initial report of the crime or incident shall be
considered to be an incident report and subject to section 610.100. Any
closed records pursuant to this section shall be available upon request
by law enforcement agencies or the division of workers' compensation or
pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and
good cause shown. (L. 1988 H.B. 1667 § 1, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

All law enforcement agencies that maintain a daily log or record
that lists suspected crimes, accidents, or complaints shall make
available the following information for inspection and copying by the
public:

(1) The time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for
assistance received by the agency;

(2) The time and nature of the agency's response to all complaints or
requests for assistance; and

(3) If the incident involves an alleged crime or infraction:

(a) The time, date, and location of occurrence;

(b) The name and age of any victim, unless the victim is a victim of a
crime under chapter 566, RSMo;

(c) The factual circumstances surrounding the incident; and

(d) A general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.
(L. 1995 H.B. 135 § 1, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2000 H.B. 1289, A.L.
2004 H.B. 1660 merged with S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Records and documents relating to tax credits submitted as
part of the application for all tax credits to any department of this
state, board, or commission authorized to issue or authorize or recommend
the authorization of tax credits shall be deemed closed records until
such time as the information submitted does not concern a pending
application, and except as limited by other provision of law concerning
closed records. For the purposes of this subsection, a "pending
application" shall mean any application for credits that has not yet been
authorized. In the case of partial authorization of credits, the
completed authorization of a single credit shall be sufficient to
constitute full authorization to the extent that the authorized credit or
credits relate to the same application as the credits that have not yet
been authorized.

2. Upon a request for opening of records and documents relating to all
tax credit programs, as defined in section 135.800, RSMo, submitted in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, except as limited by the
provision of subsection 1 of this section, the agency that is the
recipient of the open records request shall make information available
consistent with the provisions of this chapter. Where a single record or
document contains both open and closed records, the agency shall make a
redacted version of such record or document available in order to protect
the information that would otherwise make the record or document a closed
record. Staff time required for such redaction shall constitute an
activity for which a fee can be collected pursuant to section 610.026.

3. As used in this section "closed record" shall mean closed record as
defined in section 610.010. (L. 2004 S.B. 1099 § 610.255)

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:

(1) "Closed meeting", "closed record", or "closed vote", any meeting,
record or vote closed to the public;

(2) "Copying", if requested by a member of the public, copies provided as
detailed in section 610.026, if duplication equipment is available;

(3) "Public business", all matters which relate in any way to the
performance of the public governmental body's functions or the conduct of
its business;

(4) "Public governmental body", any legislative, administrative or
governmental entity created by the constitution or statutes of this
state, by order or ordinance of any political subdivision or district,
judicial entities when operating in an administrative capacity, or by
executive order, including:

(a) Any body, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee,
board of regents or board of curators or any other governing body of any
institution of higher education, including a community college, which is
supported in whole or in part from state funds, including but not limited
to the administrative entity known as "The Curators of the University of
Missouri" as established by section 172.020, RSMo;

(b) Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the governor by
executive order;

(c) Any department or division of the state, of any political subdivision
of the state, of any county or of any municipal government, school
district or special purpose district including but not limited to sewer
districts, water districts, and other subdistricts of any political
subdivision;

(d) Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three or more elected or appointed members
having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power;

(e) Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the entities
and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named entities, any
advisory committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the named
entities for the specific purpose of recommending, directly to the public
governmental body's governing board or its chief administrative officer,
policy or policy revisions or expenditures of public funds including, but
not limited to, entities created to advise bi-state taxing districts
regarding the expenditure of public funds, or any policy advisory body,
policy advisory committee or policy advisory group appointed by a
president, chancellor or chief executive officer of any college or
university system or individual institution at the direction of the
governing body of such institution which is supported in whole or in part
with state funds for the specific purpose of recommending directly to the
public governmental body's governing board or the president, chancellor
or chief executive officer policy, policy revisions or expenditures of
public funds provided, however, the staff of the college or university
president, chancellor or chief executive officer shall not constitute
such a policy advisory committee. The custodian of the records of any
public governmental body shall maintain a list of the policy advisory
committees described in this subdivision;

(f) Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership organized
or authorized to do business in this state pursuant to the provisions of
chapter 352, 353, or 355, RSMo, or unincorporated association which
either:

a. Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in activities carried out
pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies; or

b. Performs a public function as evidenced by a statutorily based
capacity to confer or otherwise advance, through approval, recommendation
or other means, the allocation or issuance of tax credits, tax abatement,
public debt, tax-exempt debt, rights of eminent domain, or the
contracting of leaseback agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from a public governmental body, but
only to the extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such
appropriation; and

(g) Any bi-state development agency established pursuant to section
70.370, RSMo;

(5) "Public meeting", any meeting of a public governmental body subject
to sections 610.010 to 610.030 at which any public business is discussed,
decided, or public policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted
in person or by means of communication equipment, including, but not
limited to, conference call, video conference, Internet chat, or Internet
message board. The term "public meeting" shall not include an informal
gathering of members of a public governmental body for ministerial or
social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the purposes of this
chapter, but the term shall include a public vote of all or a majority of
the members of a public governmental body, by electronic communication or
any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public meeting with the
members of the public governmental body gathered at one location in order
to conduct public business;

(6) "Public record", any record, whether written or electronically
stored, retained by or of any public governmental body including any
report, survey, memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the
public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service
paid for in whole or in part by public funds, including records created
or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a public
governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body; provided,
however, that personally identifiable student records maintained by
public educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the
parents, guardian or other custodian of students under the age of
eighteen years and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the
student if the student is over the age of eighteen years. The term
"public record" shall not include any internal memorandum or letter
received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public governmental
body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations in connection
with the deliberative decision-making process of said body, unless such
records are retained by the public governmental body or presented at a
public meeting. Any document or study prepared for a public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service as described in this
subdivision shall be retained by the public governmental body in the same
manner as any other public record;

(7) "Public vote", any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone,
or by any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any
public governmental body. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 1, A.L. 1977 H.B. 130, A.L.
1978 H.B. 882, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1979) Springfield board of public utilities is a "public governmental
body" within the meaning of the Open Meetings Act. State ex rel. Board of
Public Utilities v. Crow (A.), 592 S.W.2d 285.

(1984) A single member body may be a "governmental entity" for purposes
of sunshine law, which is to be liberally construed in favor of open
government. McLachlan v. McNary (Mo. App.), 684 S.W.2d 534.

(1996) Official meetings of federal governmental bodies are not subject
to the Missouri Sunshine Act. In Re Kansas City Star Co., 73 F.3d 191
(8th Cir.).

(2002) For-profit telecommunications utility with the power of eminent
domain, but without the power to tax, to formulate policies, or to
promulgate statutes, ordinances, or regulations, does not constitute a
public governmental body within meaning of section. Stewart v. Williams
Communications, Inc., 85 S.W.3d 29 (Mo.App. W.D.).

1. It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records,
votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open
to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to
610.200 shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly
construed to promote this public policy.

2. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public meetings of public
governmental bodies shall be open to the public as set forth in section
610.020, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open
to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in sections 610.023
to 610.026, and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be
recorded as set forth in section 610.015. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 2004 S.B.
1020, et al.)

Except as provided in section 610.021, rules authorized pursuant
to article III of the Missouri Constitution and as otherwise provided by
law, all votes shall be recorded, and if a roll call is taken, as to
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Any votes
taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All public
meetings shall be open to the public and public votes and public records
shall be open to the public for inspection and duplication. All votes
taken by roll call in meetings of a public governmental body consisting
of members who are all elected, except for the Missouri general assembly
and any committee established by a public governmental body, shall be
cast by members of the public governmental body who are physically
present and in attendance at the meeting. When it is necessary to take
votes by roll call in a meeting of the public governmental body, due to
an emergency of the public body, with a quorum of the members of the
public body physically present and in attendance and less than a quorum
of the members of the public governmental body participating via
telephone, facsimile, Internet, or any other voice or electronic means,
the nature of the emergency of the public body justifying that departure
from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes. Where such
emergency exists, the votes taken shall be regarded as if all members
were physically present and in attendance at the meeting. (L. 1973 S.B. 1
§ 2, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time,
date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner
reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be
considered, and if the meeting will be conducted by telephone or other
electronic means, the notice of the meeting shall identify the mode by
which the meeting will be conducted and the designated location where the
public may observe and attend the meeting. If a public body plans to meet
by Internet chat, Internet message board, or other computer link, it
shall post a notice of the meeting on its web site in addition to its
principal office and shall notify the public how to access that meeting.
Reasonable notice shall include making available copies of the notice to
any representative of the news media who requests notice of meetings of a
particular public governmental body concurrent with the notice being made
available to the members of the particular governmental body and posting
the notice on a bulletin board or other prominent place which is easily
accessible to the public and clearly designated for that purpose at the
principal office of the body holding the meeting, or if no such office
exists, at the building in which the meeting is to be held.

2. Notice conforming with all of the requirements of subsection 1 of this
section shall be given at least twenty-four hours, exclusive of weekends
and holidays when the facility is closed, prior to the commencement of
any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is
impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably
possible shall be given. Each meeting shall be held at a place reasonably
accessible to the public and of sufficient size to accommodate the
anticipated attendance by members of the public, and at a time reasonably
convenient to the public, unless for good cause such a place or time is
impossible or impractical. Every reasonable effort shall be made to grant
special access to the meeting to handicapped or disabled individuals.

3. A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape,
or other electronic means of any open meeting. A public body may
establish guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is
conducted so as to minimize disruption to the meeting. No audio recording
of any meeting, record, or vote closed pursuant to the provisions of
section 610.021 shall be permitted without permission of the public body;
any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a class C
misdemeanor.

4. When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four hours'
notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public, or
at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the nature of
the good cause justifying that departure from the normal requirements
shall be stated in the minutes.

5. A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may
conduct a meeting without notice as required by this section during a
lawful meeting of the parent governmental body, a recess in that meeting,
or immediately following that meeting, if the meeting of the subunit is
publicly announced at the parent meeting and the subject of the meeting
reasonably coincides with the subjects discussed or acted upon by the
parent governmental body.

6. If another provision of law requires a manner of giving specific
notice of a meeting, hearing or an intent to take action by a
governmental body, compliance with that section shall constitute
compliance with the notice requirements of this section.

7. A journal or minutes of open and closed meetings shall be taken and
retained by the public governmental body, including, but not limited to,
a record of any votes taken at such meeting. The minutes shall include
the date, time, place, members present, members absent and a record of
any votes taken. When a roll call vote is taken, the minutes shall
attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote or abstinence if not voting to the
name of the individual member of the public governmental body. (L. 1973
S.B. 1 § 3, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170,
A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

Except to the extent disclosure is otherwise required by law, a
public governmental body is authorized to close meetings, records and
votes, to the extent they relate to the following:

(1) Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating to
legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its interests or
acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance
company acting on behalf of a public government body as its insured,
shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon or
upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is ordered closed by
a court after a written finding that the adverse impact to a plaintiff or
plaintiffs to the action clearly outweighs the public policy
considerations of section 610.011, however, the amount of any moneys paid
by, or on behalf of, the public governmental body shall be disclosed;
provided, however, in matters involving the exercise of the power of
eminent domain, the vote shall be announced or become public immediately
following the action on the motion to authorize institution of such a
legal action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed record;

(2) Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the
legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes, vote or public record
approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or sale of real
estate by a public governmental body shall be made public upon execution
of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate;

(3) Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by
a public governmental body when personal information about the employee
is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision, when
taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or discipline
an employee of a public governmental body shall be made available with a
record of how each member voted to the public within seventy-two hours of
the close of the meeting where such action occurs; provided, however,
that any employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt notice of such
decision during the seventy-two-hour period before such decision is made
available to the public. As used in this subdivision, the term "personal
information" means information relating to the performance or merit of
individual employees;

(4) The state militia or national guard or any part thereof;

(5) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving
identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or
alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment;

(6) Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of identifiable
individuals, including records of individual test or examination scores;
however, personally identifiable student records maintained by public
educational institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents,
guardian or other custodian of students under the age of eighteen years
and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if the
student is over the age of eighteen years;

(7) Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination is
given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again;

(8) Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;

(9) Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of
a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with
employee groups;

(10) Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation
thereof;

(11) Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the
specifications are officially approved by the public governmental body or
the specifications are published for bid;

(12) Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened; and
sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to a
negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals are
rejected;

(13) Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or
records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that
this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries and
lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they
are employed as such, and the names of private sources donating or
contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or president at all
public colleges and universities in the state of Missouri and the amount
of money contributed by the source;

(14) Records which are protected from disclosure by law;

(15) Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest;

(16) Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing;

(17) Confidential or privileged communications between a public
governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product;
however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be
considered open records pursuant to this chapter;

*(18) Operational guidelines and policies developed, adopted, or
maintained by any public agency responsible for law enforcement, public
safety, first response, or public health for use in responding to or
preventing any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist in
nature and which has the potential to endanger individual or public
safety or health. Nothing in this exception shall be deemed to close
information regarding expenditures, purchases, or contracts made by an
agency in implementing these guidelines or policies. When seeking to
close information pursuant to this exception, the agency shall
affirmatively state in writing that disclosure would impair its ability
to protect the safety or health of persons, and shall in the same writing
state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public
interest in disclosure of the records. This exception shall sunset on
December 31, 2008;

*(19) Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that body to
devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public disclosure
of which would threaten public safety:

(a) Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to
security systems purchased with public funds shall be open;

(b) When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the
public governmental body shall affirmatively state in writing that
disclosure would impair the public governmental body's ability to protect
the security or safety of persons or real property, and shall in the same
writing state that the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the
public interest in disclosure of the records;

(c) Records that are voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity shall be
reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety days of submission to
determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance of a
state security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents
shall be returned to the nonpublic governmental body or destroyed;

(d) This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2008;

(20) Records that identify the configuration of components or the
operation of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network, and would allow unauthorized access to or
unlawful disruption of a computer, computer system, computer network, or
telecommunications network of a public governmental body. This exception
shall not be used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in
a file, document, data file or database containing public records.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such
computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network, including the amount of moneys paid by, or on behalf of, a
public governmental body for such computer, computer system, computer
network, or telecommunications network shall be open; and

(21) Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital
certificates, physical and virtual keys, access codes or authorization
codes that are used to protect the security of electronic transactions
between a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business
with a public governmental body. Nothing in this section shall be deemed
to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held in the
name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction made by
a person using a credit card or other method of payment for which
reimbursement is made by a public governmental body. (L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1995 H.B. 562, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2002
S.B. 712, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

*Subsections 18 and 19 of this section expire 12-31-08

CROSS REFERENCES: Child's school records to be released to parents,
attorney's fees and costs assessed, when, RSMo 452.375 General assembly
closed meetings prohibited, when, Const. Art. III, Sec. 20. Parent's
right to receive school progress reports, administrative fee to be set by
school, when, RSMo 452.376

(1988) Provisions of section 610.021 relating to closed meetings and
votes does not apply to disciplinary actions against license holders and
subject of disciplinary action may secure records pertaining to action
from licensing agency. Christiansen v. State Bd. of Accountancy, 764
S.W.2d 943 (Mo.App.).

(1991) City properly labeled as personnel records investigative reports
of police officers made in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings, and
the city had the authority, under Missouri state law and city ordinances
to close the records from public scrutiny. Wolfskill v. Henderson, 823
S.W.2d 112 (Mo. App.).

1. Except as set forth in subsection 2 of this section, no
meeting or vote may be closed without an affirmative public vote of the
majority of a quorum of the public governmental body. The vote of each
member of the public governmental body on the question of closing a
public meeting or vote and the specific reason for closing that public
meeting or vote by reference to a specific section of this chapter shall
be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and
entered into the minutes.

2. A public governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote
shall give notice of the time, date and place of such closed meeting or
vote and the reason for holding it by reference to the specific exception
allowed pursuant to the provisions of section 610.021. Such notice shall
comply with the procedures set forth in section 610.020 for notice of a
public meeting.

3. Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to section 610.021 shall be closed
only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify
the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies shall not discuss
any business in a closed meeting, record or vote which does not directly
relate to the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or
vote. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting shall close
only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary to house the
members of the public governmental body in the closed session, allowing
members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent open session
held by the public governmental body following the closed session.

4. Nothing in sections 610.010 to 610.028 shall be construed as to
require a public governmental body to hold a closed meeting, record or
vote to discuss or act upon any matter.

5. Public records shall be presumed to be open unless otherwise exempt
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

6. In the event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion
to close a meeting, or a record, or a vote from the public and any other
member believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting,
record or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provision
in this chapter, such latter member shall state his or her objection to
the motion at or before the time the vote is taken on the motion. The
public governmental body shall enter in the minutes of the public
governmental body any objection made pursuant to this subsection. Any
member making such an objection shall be allowed to fully participate in
any meeting, record or vote that is closed from the public over the
member's objection. In the event the objecting member also voted in
opposition to the motion to close the meeting, record or vote at issue,
the objection and vote of the member as entered in the minutes shall be
an absolute defense to any claim filed against the objecting member
pursuant to section 610.027. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L.
1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

(1993) A school board's workshop designed to improve effective
communication and group interaction did not violate open meetings law
because no public business was discussed. Kansas City Star Co. v. Fulson,
859 S.W.2d 934 (Mo. App. W.D.).

1. Each public governmental body is to appoint a custodian who
is to be responsible for the maintenance of that body's records. The
identity and location of a public governmental body's custodian is to be
made available upon request.

2. Each public governmental body shall make available for inspection and
copying by the public of that body's public records. No person shall
remove original public records from the office of a public governmental
body or its custodian without written permission of the designated
custodian. No public governmental body shall, after August 28, 1998,
grant to any person or entity, whether by contract, license or otherwise,
the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public record unless
the granting of such right is necessary to facilitate coordination with,
or uniformity among, industry regulators having similar authority.

3. Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon
as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third business day
following the date the request is received by the custodian of records of
a public governmental body. If records are requested in a certain format,
the public body shall provide the records in the requested format, if
such format is available. If access to the public record is not granted
immediately, the custodian shall give a detailed explanation of the cause
for further delay and the place and earliest time and date that the
record will be available for inspection. This period for document
production may exceed three days for reasonable cause.

4. If a request for access is denied, the custodian shall provide, upon
request, a written statement of the grounds for such denial. Such
statement shall cite the specific provision of law under which access is
denied and shall be furnished to the requester no later than the end of
the third business day following the date that the request for the
statement is received. (L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004
S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. If a public record contains material which is not exempt from
disclosure as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the
public governmental body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material
and make the nonexempt material available for examination and copying.

2. When designing a public record, a public governmental body shall, to
the extent practicable, facilitate a separation of exempt from nonexempt
information. If the separation is readily apparent to a person requesting
to inspect or receive copies of the form, the public governmental body
shall generally describe the material exempted unless that description
would reveal the contents of the exempt information and thus defeat the
purpose of the exemption. (L. 1993 H.B. 170)

Any member of a public governmental body who transmits any
message relating to public business by electronic means shall also
concurrently transmit that message to either the member's public office
computer or the custodian of records in the same format. The provisions
of this section shall only apply to messages sent to two or more members
of that body so that, when counting the sender, a majority of the body's
members are copied. Any such message received by the custodian or at the
member's office computer shall be a public record subject to the
exceptions of section 610.021. (L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental
body shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of public
records subject to the following:

(1) Fees for copying public records, except those records restricted
under section 32.091, RSMo, shall not exceed ten cents per page for a
paper copy not larger than nine by fourteen inches, with the hourly fee
for duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for
clerical staff of the public governmental body. Research time required
for fulfilling records requests may be charged at the actual cost of
research time. Based on the scope of the request, the public governmental
body shall produce the copies using employees of the body that result in
the lowest amount of charges for search, research, and duplication time.
Prior to producing copies of the requested records, the person requesting
the records may request the public governmental body to provide an
estimate of the cost to the person requesting the records. Documents may
be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public
governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in
the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to
public understanding of the operations or activities of the public
governmental body and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the
requester;

(2) Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer
facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items or
devices, and for paper copies larger than nine by fourteen inches shall
include only the cost of copies, staff time, which shall not exceed the
average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public governmental body
required for making copies and programming, if necessary, and the cost of
the disk, tape, or other medium used for the duplication. Fees for maps,
blueprints, or plats that require special expertise to duplicate may
include the actual rate of compensation for the trained personnel
required to duplicate such maps, blueprints, or plats. If programming is
required beyond the customary and usual level to comply with a request
for records or information, the fees for compliance may include the
actual costs of such programming.

2. Payment of such copying fees may be requested prior to the making of
copies.

3. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
the state shall remit all moneys received by or for it from fees charged
pursuant to this section to the director of revenue for deposit to the
general revenue fund of the state.

4. Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of
a political subdivision of the state shall remit all moneys received by
it or for it from fees charged pursuant to sections 610.010 to 610.028 to
the appropriate fiscal officer of such political subdivision for deposit
to the governmental body's accounts.

5. The term "tax, license or fees" as used in section 22 of article X of
the Constitution of the state of Missouri does not include copying
charges and related fees that do not exceed the level necessary to pay or
to continue to pay the costs for providing a service, program, or
activity which was in existence on November 4, 1980, or which was
approved by a vote of the people subsequent to November 4, 1980. (L. 1987
S.B. 2 § 610.025, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. The remedies provided by this section against public
governmental bodies shall be in addition to those provided by any other
provision of law. Any aggrieved person, taxpayer to, or citizen of, this
state, or the attorney general or prosecuting attorney, may seek judicial
enforcement of the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026. Suits to
enforce sections 610.010 to 610.026 shall be brought in the circuit court
for the county in which the public governmental body has its principal
place of business. Upon service of a summons, petition, complaint,
counterclaim, or cross-claim in a civil action brought to enforce the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.026, the custodian of the public
record that is the subject matter of such civil action shall not transfer
custody, alter, destroy, or otherwise dispose of the public record sought
to be inspected and examined, notwithstanding the applicability of an
exemption pursuant to section 610.021 or the assertion that the requested
record is not a public record until the court directs otherwise.

2. Once a party seeking judicial enforcement of sections 610.010 to
610.026 demonstrates to the court that the body in question is subject to
the requirements of sections 610.010 to 610.026 and has held a closed
meeting, record or vote, the burden of persuasion shall be on the body
and its members to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of
sections 610.010 to 610.026.

3. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has knowingly
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to one
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a knowing violation of
sections 610.010 to 610.026, the court may order the payment by such body
or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees to any party
successfully establishing a violation. The court shall determine the
amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of the
jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

4. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body or a member of a public governmental body has purposely
violated sections 610.010 to 610.026, the public governmental body or the
member shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five
thousand dollars. If the court finds that there was a purposeful
violation of sections 610.010 to 610.026, then the court shall order the
payment by such body or member of all costs and reasonable attorney fees
to any party successfully establishing such a violation. The court shall
determine the amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of
the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the public
governmental body or member of a public governmental body has violated
sections 610.010 to 610.026 previously.

5. Upon a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a public
governmental body has violated any provision of sections 610.010 to
610.026, a court shall void any action taken in violation of sections
610.010 to 610.026, if the court finds under the facts of the particular
case that the public interest in the enforcement of the policy of
sections 610.010 to 610.026 outweighs the public interest in sustaining
the validity of the action taken in the closed meeting, record or vote.
Suit for enforcement shall be brought within one year from which the
violation is ascertainable and in no event shall it be brought later than
two years after the violation. This subsection shall not apply to an
action taken regarding the issuance of bonds or other evidence of
indebtedness of a public governmental body if a public hearing, election
or public sale has been held regarding the bonds or evidence of
indebtedness.

6. A public governmental body which is in doubt about the legality of
closing a particular meeting, record or vote may bring suit at the
expense of that public governmental body in the circuit court of the
county of the public governmental body's principal place of business to
ascertain the propriety of any such action, or seek a formal opinion of
the attorney general or an attorney for the governmental body. (L. 1982
H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1395 & 1448, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Any public governmental body may provide for the legal
defense of any member charged with a violation of sections 610.010 to
610.030.

2. Each public governmental body shall provide a reasonable written
policy in compliance with sections 610.010 to 610.030, open to public
inspection, regarding the release of information on any meeting, record
or vote and any member or employee of the public governmental body who
complies with the written policy is not guilty of a violation of the
provisions of sections 610.010 to 610.030 or subject to civil liability
for any act arising out of his adherence to the written policy of the
agency.

3. No person who in good faith reports a violation of the provisions of
sections 610.010 to 610.030 is civilly liable for making such report,
nor, if such person is an officer or employee of a public governmental
body, may such person be demoted, fired, suspended, or otherwise
disciplined for making such report. (L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1987 S.B. 2,
A.L. 2004 H.B. 1548)

1. A public governmental body keeping its records in an
electronic format is strongly encouraged to provide access to its public
records to members of the public in an electronic format. A public
governmental body is strongly encouraged to make information available in
usable electronic formats to the greatest extent feasible. A public
governmental body may not enter into a contract for the creation or
maintenance of a public records database if that contract impairs the
ability of the public to inspect or copy the public records of that
agency, including public records that are on-line or stored in an
electronic record-keeping system used by the agency. Such contract may
not allow any impediment that as a practical matter makes it more
difficult for the public to inspect or copy the records than to inspect
or copy the public governmental body's records. For purposes of this
section, a usable electronic format shall allow, at a minimum, viewing
and printing of records. However, if the public governmental body keeps a
record on a system capable of allowing the copying of electronic
documents into other electronic documents, the public governmental body
shall provide data to the public in such electronic format, if requested.
The activities authorized pursuant to this section may not take priority
over the primary responsibilities of a public governmental body. For
purposes of this section the term "electronic services" means on-line
access or access via other electronic means to an electronic file or
database. This subsection shall not apply to contracts initially entered
into before August 28, 2004.

2. Public governmental bodies shall include in a contract for electronic
services provisions that:

(1) Protect the security and integrity of the information system of the
public governmental body and of information systems that are shared by
public governmental bodies; and

(2) Limit the liability of the public governmental body providing the
services.

3. Each public governmental body may consult with the division of data
processing and telecommunications of the office of administration to
develop the electronic services offered by the public governmental body
to the public pursuant to this section. (L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)

The circuit courts of this state shall have the jurisdiction to
issue injunctions to enforce the provisions of sections 610.010 to
610.115. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 5, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1253, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. If an executive agency's records are closed by law, it may
not disclose any information contained in such closed records in any form
that would allow identification of individual persons or entities unless:

(1) Disclosure of such information is made to a person in that person's
official capacity representing an executive agency and the disclosure is
necessary for the requesting executive agency to perform its
constitutional or statutory duties; or

(2) Disclosure is otherwise required by law.

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including,
but not limited to, section 32.057, RSMo, such closed information may be
disclosed pursuant to this section; however, the providing executive
agency may request, as a condition of disclosing such information, that
the requesting executive agency submit:

(1) The constitutional or statutory duties necessitating the disclosure
of such information;

(2) The name and official capacity of the person or persons to whom such
information will be disclosed;

(3) An affirmation that such information will be used only in furtherance
of such constitutional or statutory duties; and

(4) The date upon which the access is requested to begin, when the
request is for continuous access.

3. Any executive agency receiving such a request for closed information
shall keep the request on file and shall only release such information to
the person or persons listed on such request. If the request is for
continuous access to such information, the executive agency shall honor
the request for a period of one year from the beginning date indicated on
such request. If the requesting executive agency requests such
information for more than one year, the agency shall provide an updated
request for closed information to the providing executive agency upon
expiration of the initial request.

4. Any person receiving or releasing closed information pursuant to this
section shall be subject to any laws, regulations or standards of the
providing executive agency regarding the confidentiality or misuse of
such information and shall be subject to any penalties provided by such
laws, regulations or standards for the violation of the confidentiality
or misuse of such information.

5. For the purposes of this section, "executive agency" means any
administrative governmental entity created by the constitution or
statutes of this state under the executive branch, including any
department, agency, board, bureau, council, commission, committee, board
of regents or board of curators of any institution of higher learning
supported in whole or in part by state funds, any subdivision of an
executive agency, and any legally designated agent of such entity. (L.
1994 S.B. 685)

Effective 5-10-94

No state entity shall publicly disclose any Social Security
number of a living person unless such disclosure is permitted by federal
law, federal regulation or state law or unless such disclosure is
authorized by the holder of that Social Security number or unless such
disclosure is for use in connection with any civil, criminal,
administrative or arbitral proceeding in any federal, state or local
court or agency or before any self-regulatory body, including the service
of process, investigation in anticipation of litigation and the execution
or enforcement of judgments and orders, or pursuant to an order of a
federal, state or local court. Notwithstanding any other provision of law
to the contrary, the disclosure of Social Security numbers of deceased
persons shall be lawful, provided that the state agency disclosing the
information knows of no reason why such disclosure would prove
detrimental to the deceased individual's estate or harmful to the
deceased individual's living relatives. For the purposes of this section,
"publicly disclose" shall not include the use of any Social Security
number by any state entity in the performance of any statutory or
constitutional duty or power or the disclosure of any Social Security
number to another state entity, political subdivision, agency of the
federal government, agency of another state or any private person or
entity acting on behalf of, or in cooperation with, a state entity. Any
person or entity receiving a Social Security number from any entity shall
be subject to the same confidentiality provisions as the disclosing
entity. For purposes of this section, "state entity" means any state
department, division, agency, bureau, board, commission, employee or any
agent thereof. When responding to any requests for public information
pursuant to this chapter, any costs incurred by any state entity
complying with the provisions of this section may be charged to the
requester of such information. (L. 1998 H.B. 1043 § 1, A.L. 1999 H.B. 453)

1. As used in sections 610.100 to 610.150, the following words
and phrases shall mean:

(1) "Arrest", an actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his or her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority of a
warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in the
issuance of a summons or the person being booked;

(2) "Arrest report", a record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest
and of any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the
charge therefor;

(3) "Inactive", an investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:

(a) A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case;

(b) Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to the
applicable statute of limitations, or ten years after the commission of
the offense; whichever date earliest occurs;

(c) Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the basis of
the information contained in the investigative report, by exhaustion of
or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons;

(4) "Incident report", a record of a law enforcement agency consisting of
the date, time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts
and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints
maintained by that agency;

(5) "Investigative report", a record, other than an arrest or incident
report, prepared by personnel of a law enforcement agency, inquiring into
a crime or suspected crime, either in response to an incident report or
in response to evidence developed by law enforcement officers in the
course of their duties.

2. Each law enforcement agency of this state, of any county, and of any
municipality shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the
agency, investigations and arrests made by such law enforcement agency.
All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of
subsections 4, 5 and 6 of this section or section 320.083, RSMo,
investigative reports of all law enforcement agencies are closed records
until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and
not charged with an offense against the law within thirty days of the
person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record
except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and
except as provided in section 610.120.

3. Except as provided in subsections 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this section, if
any portion of a record or document of a law enforcement officer or
agency, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open,
contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and
present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer,
or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including
records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain
confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose
techniques, procedures or guidelines for law enforcement investigations
or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be
redacted from any record made available pursuant to this chapter.

4. Any person, including a family member of such person within the first
degree of consanguinity if such person is deceased or incompetent,
attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or
whose property is involved in an incident, may obtain any records closed
pursuant to this section or section 610.150 for purposes of investigation
of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this subsection. Any
individual, his or her family member within the first degree of
consanguinity if such individual is deceased or incompetent, his or her
attorney or insurer, involved in an incident or whose property is
involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete
unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident, and may
obtain access to other records closed by a law enforcement agency
pursuant to this section. Within thirty days of such request, the agency
shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this
subsection with the circuit court having jurisdiction over the law
enforcement agency stating that the safety of the victim, witness or
other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal
investigation is likely to be jeopardized. If, based on such motion, the
court finds for the law enforcement agency, the court shall either order
the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be
closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this
subsection.

5. Any person may bring an action pursuant to this section in the circuit
court having jurisdiction to authorize disclosure of the information
contained in an investigative report of any law enforcement agency, which
would otherwise be closed pursuant to this section. The court may order
that all or part of the information contained in an investigative report
be released to the person bringing the action. In making the
determination as to whether information contained in an investigative
report shall be disclosed, the court shall consider whether the benefit
to the person bringing the action or to the public outweighs any harm to
the public, to the law enforcement agency or any of its officers, or to
any person identified in the investigative report in regard to the need
for law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate and prosecute
criminal activity. The investigative report in question may be examined
by the court in camera. The court may find that the party seeking
disclosure of the investigative report shall bear the reasonable and
necessary costs and attorneys' fees of both parties, unless the court
finds that the decision of the law enforcement agency not to open the
investigative report was substantially unjustified under all relevant
circumstances, and in that event, the court may assess such reasonable
and necessary costs and attorneys' fees to the law enforcement agency.

6. Any person may apply pursuant to this subsection to the circuit court
having jurisdiction for an order requiring a law enforcement agency to
open incident reports and arrest reports being unlawfully closed pursuant
to this section. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has knowingly violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to one thousand dollars. If the court finds that there is a
knowing violation of this section, the court may order payment by such
officer or agency of all costs and attorneys' fees, as provided by
section 610.027. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence
that the law enforcement officer or agency has purposely violated this
section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount up to five thousand dollars and the court shall order payment by
such officer or agency of all costs and attorney fees, as provided in
section 610.027. The court shall determine the amount of the penalty by
taking into account the size of the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the
offense, and whether the law enforcement officer or agency has violated
this section previously.

7. The victim of an offense as provided in chapter 566, RSMo, may request
that his or her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to
such incident is filed. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 6, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554, A.L.
1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1994 S.B. 554, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L. 1998 H.B.
1095, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al. merged with S.B. 1211)

(1986) Application of this block of sections to records kept before
September 28, 1973, does not violate constitutional ban on ex post facto
or retrospective legislation contained in section 13 of Article I of the
Missouri Constitution. Martin v. Schmalz, 713 S.W.2d 22 (Mo.App.).

(1993) Arrest records of venirepersons obtained by state did not violate
statute which required such records to be closed to general public.
Arrest records may be accessed for use in selecting jury. State v.
Johnson, 858 S.W.2d 254 (Mo. App. E.D.).

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
whenever a criminal background check is requested in connection with
gaining employment, housing or any other services or benefit of any
homeless former member of the organized militia or the armed forces of
the United States who has been honorably discharged, such background
check shall be completed and transmitted to the requesting party without
any fee or other compensation for such background check or copy of any
relevant public record pertaining to such request. For purposes of this
section "homeless" means an involuntary state characterized by a lack of
housing or shelter. (L. 1998 H.B. 1046)

If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently
nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is found not guilty or
imposition of sentence is suspended in the court in which the action is
prosecuted, official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be
closed records when such case is finally terminated except as provided in
section 610.120 and except that the court's judgment or order or the
final action taken by the prosecutor in such matters may be accessed. If
the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant
to section 552.030, RSMo, official records pertaining to the case shall
thereafter be closed records upon such findings, except that the
disposition may be accessed only by law enforcement agencies, child-care
agencies, facilities as defined in section 198.006, RSMo, and in-home
services provider agencies as defined in section 660.250, RSMo, in the
manner established by section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 7, A.L. 1981
H.B. 554, A.L. 1993 H.B. 170, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2001 S.B. 267)

Any person as to whom imposition of sentence was suspended prior
to September 28, 1981, may make a motion to the court in which the action
was prosecuted after his discharge from the court's jurisdiction for
closure of official records pertaining to the case. If the prosecuting
authority opposes the motion, an informal hearing shall be held in which
technical rules of evidence shall not apply. Having regard to the nature
and circumstances of the offense and the history and character of the
defendant and upon a finding that the ends of justice are so served, the
court may order official records pertaining to the case to be closed,
except as provided in section 610.120. (L. 1981 H.B. 554)

(1985) Held, that a witness can be impeached by his prior guilty plea,
even though he had completed probation under a suspended imposition of
sentence. State v. Brooks, (A.) 694 S.W.2d 851.

No person as to whom such records have become closed records
shall thereafter, under any provision of law, be held to be guilty of
perjury or otherwise of giving a false statement by reason of his failure
to recite or acknowledge such arrest or trial in response to any inquiry
made of him for any purpose, except as provided in section 491.050, RSMo,
and section 610.120. (L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 8, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

A person who knowingly violates any provision of section
610.100, 610.105, 610.106, or 610.120 is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
(L. 1973 S.B. 1 § 9, A.L. 1981 H.B. 554)

1. Records required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they
shall be inaccessible to the general public and to all persons other than
the defendant except as provided in this section and section 43.507,
RSMo. The closed records shall be available to: criminal justice agencies
for the administration of criminal justice pursuant to section 43.500,
RSMo, criminal justice employment, screening persons with access to
criminal justice facilities, procedures, and sensitive information; to
law enforcement agencies for issuance or renewal of a license, permit,
certification, or registration of authority from such agency including
but not limited to watchmen, security personnel, private investigators,
and persons seeking permits to purchase or possess a firearm; those
agencies authorized by section 43.543, RSMo, to submit and when
submitting fingerprints to the central repository; the sentencing
advisory commission created in section 558.019, RSMo, for the purpose of
studying sentencing practices in accordance with section 43.507, RSMo; to
qualified entities for the purpose of screening providers defined in
section 43.540, RSMo; the department of revenue for driver license
administration; the division of workers' compensation for the purposes of
determining eligibility for crime victims' compensation pursuant to
sections 595.010 to 595.075, RSMo, department of health and senior
services for the purpose of licensing and regulating facilities and
regulating in-home services provider agencies and federal agencies for
purposes of criminal justice administration, criminal justice employment,
child, elderly, or disabled care, and for such investigative purposes as
authorized by law or presidential executive order.

2. These records shall be made available only for the purposes and to the
entities listed in this section. A criminal justice agency receiving a
request for criminal history information under its control may require
positive identification, to include fingerprints of the subject of the
record search, prior to releasing closed record information.
Dissemination of closed and open records from the Missouri criminal
records repository shall be in accordance with section 43.509, RSMo. All
records which are closed records shall be removed from the records of the
courts, administrative agencies, and law enforcement agencies which are
available to the public and shall be kept in separate records which are
to be held confidential and, where possible, pages of the public record
shall be retyped or rewritten omitting those portions of the record which
deal with the defendant's case. If retyping or rewriting is not feasible
because of the permanent nature of the record books, such record entries
shall be blacked out and recopied in a confidential book. (L. 1981 H.B.
554, A.L. 1983 S.B. 72, A.L. 1989 S.B. 215 & 58, A.L. 1992 S.B. 573 &
634, A.L. 1994 H.B. 1677 merged with S.B. 554 merged with S.B. 763, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184)

Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, any
record of arrest recorded pursuant to section 43.503, RSMo, may be
expunged if the court determines that the arrest was based on false
information and the following conditions exist:

(1) There is no probable cause, at the time of the action to expunge, to
believe the individual committed the offense;

(2) No charges will be pursued as a result of the arrest;

(3) The subject of the arrest has no prior or subsequent misdemeanor or
felony convictions;

(4) The subject of the arrest did not receive a suspended imposition of
sentence for the offense for which the arrest was made or for any offense
related to the arrest; and

(5) No civil action is pending relating to the arrest or the records
sought to be expunged. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 1 merged with H.B. 562 § 11,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

(2000) Section does not preclude expungement of arrest records of
arrestee who has been charged with and acquitted of an offense, but
acquittal alone is insufficient for expungement; burden is on that party
to affirmatively prove his or her innocence. Martinez v. State, 24 S.W.3d
10 (Mo.App.E.D.).

(2005) Statutory expungement of criminal records is civil in nature and
is constitutional under legislative procedural requirements and
provisions of ex post facto, equal protection, due process, and
separation of powers. In re Dyer, 163 S.W.3d 915 (Mo.banc).

1. Any person who wishes to have a record of arrest expunged
pursuant to section 610.122 may file a verified petition for expungement
in the civil division of the circuit court in the county of the arrest as
provided in subsection 4 of this section. The petition shall include the
following information or shall be dismissed if the information is not
given:

(1) The petitioner's:

(a) Full name;

(b) Sex;

(c) Race;

(d) Date of birth;

(e) Driver's license number;

(f) Social Security number; and

(g) Address at the time of the arrest;

(2) The offense charged against the petitioner;

(3) The date the petitioner was arrested;

(4) The name of the county where the petitioner was arrested and if the
arrest occurred in a municipality, the name of the municipality;

(5) The name of the agency that arrested the petitioner;

(6) The case number and court of the offense;

(7) Petitioner's fingerprints on a standard fingerprint card at the time
of filing a petition to expunge a record that will be forwarded to the
central repository for the sole purpose of positively identifying the
petitioner.

2. The petition shall name as defendants all law enforcement agencies,
courts, prosecuting attorneys, central state depositories of criminal
records or others who the petitioner has reason to believe may possess
the records subject to expungement. The court's order shall not affect
any person or entity not named as a defendant in the action.

3. The court shall set a hearing on the matter no sooner than thirty days
from the filing of the petition and shall give reasonable notice of the
hearing to each official or agency or other entity named in the petition.

4. If the court finds that the petitioner is entitled to expungement of
any record that is the subject of the petition, it shall enter an order
directing expungement. Upon granting of the order of expungement, the
records and files maintained in any administrative or court proceeding in
an associate or circuit division of the circuit court under this section
shall be confidential and only available to the parties or by order of
the court for good cause shown. A copy of the order shall be provided to
each agency identified in the petition pursuant to subsection 2 of this
section.

5. The supreme court shall promulgate rules establishing procedures for
the handling of cases filed pursuant to the provisions of this section
and section 610.122. Such procedures shall be similar to the procedures
established in chapter 482, RSMo, for the handling of small claims. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 2 merged with H.B. 562 § 12, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135, A.L.
2003 S.B. 184, A.L. 2005 S.B. 422)

1. All records ordered to be expunged pursuant to section
610.123 shall be destroyed, except as provided in this section. If
destruction of the record is not feasible because of the permanent nature
of the record books, such record entries shall be blacked out. Entries of
a record ordered expunged pursuant to section 610.123 shall be removed
from all electronic files maintained with the state of Missouri. The
central repository shall request the Federal Bureau of Investigation
expunge the records from its files.

2. Any petitioner, or agency protesting the expungement, may appeal the
court's decision in the same manner as provided for other civil actions.
(L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 3 merged with H.B. 562 § 13)

1. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of
section 610.123 who knowingly fails to expunge or obliterate, or releases
arrest information which has been ordered expunged pursuant to section
610.123 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

2. A person subject to an order of the court in subsection 4 of section
610.123 who, knowing the records have been ordered expunged, uses the
arrest information for financial gain is guilty of a class D felony. (L.
1993 H.B. 170 § 4 merged with H.B. 562 § 14, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095)

1. An expungement of an arrest record shall not reflect on the
validity of the arrest and shall not be construed to indicate a lack of
probable cause for the arrest.

2. Except as provided by sections 610.122 to 610.126, the courts of this
state shall have no legal or equitable authority to close or expunge any
arrest record.

3. The petitioner shall not bring any action subsequent to the
expungement against any person or agency relating to the arrest described
in the expunged records. (L. 1993 H.B. 170 § 5 merged with H.B. 562 § 15,
A.L. 1995 H.B. 135 merged with H.B. 174, et al.)

Except as provided by this section, any information acquired by
a law enforcement agency by way of a complaint or report of a crime made
by telephone contact using the emergency number, "911", shall be
inaccessible to the general public. However, information consisting of
the date, time, specific location and immediate facts and circumstances
surrounding the initial report of the crime or incident shall be
considered to be an incident report and subject to section 610.100. Any
closed records pursuant to this section shall be available upon request
by law enforcement agencies or the division of workers' compensation or
pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and
good cause shown. (L. 1988 H.B. 1667 § 1, A.L. 1995 H.B. 135)

All law enforcement agencies that maintain a daily log or record
that lists suspected crimes, accidents, or complaints shall make
available the following information for inspection and copying by the
public:

(1) The time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for
assistance received by the agency;

(2) The time and nature of the agency's response to all complaints or
requests for assistance; and

(3) If the incident involves an alleged crime or infraction:

(a) The time, date, and location of occurrence;

(b) The name and age of any victim, unless the victim is a victim of a
crime under chapter 566, RSMo;

(c) The factual circumstances surrounding the incident; and

(d) A general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.
(L. 1995 H.B. 135 § 1, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1095, A.L. 2000 H.B. 1289, A.L.
2004 H.B. 1660 merged with S.B. 1020, et al.)

1. Records and documents relating to tax credits submitted as
part of the application for all tax credits to any department of this
state, board, or commission authorized to issue or authorize or recommend
the authorization of tax credits shall be deemed closed records until
such time as the information submitted does not concern a pending
application, and except as limited by other provision of law concerning
closed records. For the purposes of this subsection, a "pending
application" shall mean any application for credits that has not yet been
authorized. In the case of partial authorization of credits, the
completed authorization of a single credit shall be sufficient to
constitute full authorization to the extent that the authorized credit or
credits relate to the same application as the credits that have not yet
been authorized.

2. Upon a request for opening of records and documents relating to all
tax credit programs, as defined in section 135.800, RSMo, submitted in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, except as limited by the
provision of subsection 1 of this section, the agency that is the
recipient of the open records request shall make information available
consistent with the provisions of this chapter. Where a single record or
document contains both open and closed records, the agency shall make a
redacted version of such record or document available in order to protect
the information that would otherwise make the record or document a closed
record. Staff time required for such redaction shall constitute an
activity for which a fee can be collected pursuant to section 610.026.

3. As used in this section "closed record" shall mean closed record as
defined in section 610.010. (L. 2004 S.B. 1099 § 610.255)

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