Bill Description: House Bill 43 would exempt all information about schools' emergency operations plans and training from public disclosure. 

Rating: -1

Does it in any way restrict public access to information related to government activity or otherwise compromise government transparency, accountability, or election integrity? Conversely, does it increase public access to information related to government activity or increase government transparency, accountability, or election integrity?

House Bill 43 would amend Section 33-512, Idaho Code, which deals with the powers and duties of school boards. Currently, subsection 16 of this section says the board must "maintain a safe environment for students…" House Bill 43 would expand this duty to say the board must "develop and maintain a safe environment for students and employees" and lay out additional stipulations. 

Among these are "requiring each school in the school district to create and maintain an emergency operations plan for each school that is approved by the board" and "requiring all school district staff to receive initial and annual emergency operations training that provides instruction on how to conduct exercises in order to respond to emergencies…"

An additional subsection would be added that says, "Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all records and information generated pursuant" to these emergency operations plans and training "shall be exempt from public disclosure."

A narrow carve-out to protect sensitive information may be warranted, but broadly exempting "all records and information" about a school's emergency operations plans and training from public disclosure "notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary" goes too far. This compromises both government transparency and the right of parents to understand what steps a school is taking to protect their children.

(-1)