The House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee heard HB 1360 on access to public records authored by Rep. Lehman. The bill:
- Requires public agencies to establish and maintain an electronic portal for the submission of public records requests that incorporates CAPTCHA or an equivalent mechanism to ensure the requestor is human, verifies the requestor’s address, indicates if the requestor is a resident of Indiana, and logs and reports submissions suspected to be automated or originates from a phishing or data scraping sources.
- Provides a definition of data scraping and phishing.
- Provides responses from requests in the electronic portal must be made within seven days of receiving the request and establishes a priority order for fulfilling requests.
- Requires a public agency to collect a supplemental fee for processing requests submitted by non-residents or out-of-state entities and sets those fees and parameters for waiving these fees.
- Requires public agencies to report to the public access counselor, through a standard process established by the public access counselor, requests received that are suspected of being automated, data scraping, or phishing activity.
- Requires the public access counselor to coordinate with public agencies to track the volume and nature of public records requests received and identify patterns or sources of excessive, automated, phishing related or data scrapping requests, to report a summary of the volume and nature of public records requests received by public agencies, and make recommendations to the general assembly.
The Committee amended the bill by consent to provide that a public agency may (instead of shall): (1) establish an electronic portal that includes the listed requirements, (2) collect the supplemental fee, and (3) waive the fee under certain circumstances.
The Allen County Board of Commissioners testified in support of the bill. The amended bill passed 12-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/house/1360