Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/121236
Page 4 April 11, 2013 System gets it right most of the time I ndiana has a citizen legislature, but most lawmakers handle the job in a professional manner. HSPA���s efforts in opposing S.B. 373 are a good example. As originally filed by state Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, the bill would have made it a crime to share photos or video taken without permission of agricultural, industrial or mining operations. Early in the session, I let Holdman know HSPA believed it was a bad bill, and the two of us agreed to respectfully disagree. Meanwhile, state Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, introduced a bill at the request of House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, which would deal with two public access issues ��� a search fee for voluminous records requests and citizen control over how copies of electronically stored public records would be received in a records request. This is a bill whose guidelines were reviewed by the HSPA Freedom of Information Committee as I worked with Bosma on the language that became H.B. 1175. Both bills moved forward with HSPA testifying against S.B. 373 in its Senate committee hearing and in favor of H.B. 1175 in its House committee hearing. Their chamber of origin approved both bills. Even though HSPA opposed S.B. 373, I didn���t hesitate to suggest Holdman be named sponsor for H.B. 1175 because he���d filed a bill in a previous session concerning a citizen���s ability to receive an electronic record via email rather than be forced to accept a paper copy. Holdman, knowing we were fighting his so-called Ag Gag Key Points By Steve Key bill, didn���t hesitate in agreeing to serve as H.B. 1175���s sponsor. As it turned out, Friend became the sponsor of S.B. 373. HSPA���s relationship with Holdman and Friend could have become more complicated when Indianapolis Star columnist Matthew Tully began a series of stories questioning potential conflicts of interest for legislators and possible influence by lobbying interests. Holdman���s ties to the banking industry and Friend���s ownership of a hog operation were mentioned. HSPA Hotline The following questions came from Spencer Evening World, Rensselaer Republican, Times-Union (Warsaw) and The News-Banner (Bluffton): Q A A gentleman wishes to place a classified ad congratulating his sister on being breast-cancer free for four years. Is this allowed under HIPAA without her permission? �� HIPAA ��� Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ��� restricts the release of information by medical providers who bill electroni- cally. So unless the gentleman is the woman���s doctor his congratulatory classified ad will not violate the federal law ��� neither will coaches who explain the extent of injuries of athletes or police officers who describe the injuries of auto accident or crime victims. Q A A construction business wants to run a help-wanted ad with the words, ���No smokers.��� Is that legal? Is there a place to go for quick reference for these types of questions? I can���t identify any federal law creating smokers as a protected class (such as race, color, national origin, religion or gender), so I can���t find anything illegal about screening smokers from an employment ad. Don���t translate this advice to housing ads though, where the Indiana Civil Rights Commission recommends landlords say ���no smoking��� rather than ���no smokers.��� We have copies of ���Employment Law: Advertising Guidebook��� that HSPA and the Indiana Civil Rights Commission put together a few years ago to help advertisers avoid discriminatory language. HSPA will mail copies to any newspaper that would like to have some. Q Q Whomever processes court documents for our local Superior Court and Circuit Court are treating them differently. One does not redact the perpetrator���s birthdate and address; the other has just recently begun to do that. What can clerks redact? A There is no reason to delete ages or addresses of those being charged with crimes. The Supreme Court���s Administrative Rule 9 calls for confidentiality for addresses and birth dates of witnesses or crime victims but not the person arrested. Ask them for the legal basis for the redaction. I don���t think they���ll be able to give you an Indiana code citation. If they do, relay it to me and I���ll take a look at it. Could you tell me if there are any limitations or legalities to running an ad in our daily newspaper regarding tobacco products? We have a potential to print an ad with pricing for cigarettes. Are there any issues or standards we should be aware of? Cigarettes are a legal product so you���re not prohibited from running the advertising, including pricing. What you do have to be aware of is who pays for the advertising. If the manufacturer or a wholesaler pays it for, the ad must include the U.S. surgeon general���s tobacco warning. If the ad is being put together by a local convenience store, and the advertiser is not getting money from a manufacturer or wholesaler to place the advertising, then the warning label is not required. A Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. Without publishing anything new, the Fayetteville Observer ad package created new, year-long revenue in just one week! Contact Advantage Newspaper Consultants today to learn more about creating NEW annual revenue with your existing core products. Fayetteville Observer's Platinum TV ad package exceeded revenue goal in less than a week! Ask us about our digital editions! 910-323-0349 | info@newspaperconsultants.com | www.newspaperconsultants.com The stories angered many legislators, but neither Holdman nor Friend took any actions to hurt a bill that HSPA was supporting while understanding that HSPA vehemently was opposed to S.B. 373. Friend worked with the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee chairman, state Rep. Don Lehe, R-Brookston, on an amendment trying to eliminate the First Amendment concerns raised by HSPA and others. Unfortunately, the bill still introduced the concept of criminal defamation, which HSPA could not accept. When Bosma reassigned S.B. 373 to the House Judiciary Committee for further study, Friend worked with the chairman, state Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville, and state Rep. Jud McMillan, R-Brookville, on the amend- Ag Continued from Page 1 The changes apparently didn���t satisfy the concerns of House Republican leadership because Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, reassigned the bill to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville. Steuerwald and a fellow committee member, state Rep. Jud McMillan, R-Brookville, crafted an amendment that was approved April 8 with a vote of 6-3. The amendment eliminated all references to defamation from the bill. S.B. 373 now strengthens two existing laws, one concerning criminal trespass and one concerning gaining Reports Continued from Page 1 Assuming the Senate passes H.B. 1427, author state Rep. Rhonda Rhoads, R-Corydon, will have to decide whether to accept changes to the bill made by the Senate or file a dissent. A dissent would trigger a conference committee where she could attempt to resurrect her bill���s original intent, which would have replaced the publication requirement with a posting of financial reports on school district websites. HSPA has argued that Hoosiers expect and want government notices published in local newspapers. Even when reminded that they as taxpayers pay for the advertisement, 73 percent still said that���s what they wanted. Asked in the 2004 survey what the result would be if public notices were moved to the Internet, 62 percent of Hoosiers said they would be less likely or much less likely to see public notices. ment approved by the committee that wiped criminal defamation out of the bill. McMillan���s work is noteworthy because he���s been the subject of stories critical of his involvement in an economic development project in his hometown. That didn���t color the work he did on the S.B. 373 amendment, a fix that led HSPA to withdraw its opposition to the bill. I won���t say I haven���t witnessed vindictive acts in the Indiana General Assembly, but the willingness of Holdman, Friend and McMillan to work with HSPA when newspapers have been critical of them or when HSPA opposes them on another issue is more the norm in my experience. Steve Key is executive director and general counsel for HSPA. employment under false pretenses. Key testified before the committee to withdraw HSPA���s opposition based on the amendment. He said HSPA doesn���t encourage its members to break the law to get a story. If a newspaper believes an undercover operation is the only way to reveal an injustice, then it must be prepared to pay the potential penalty for civil disobedience if reporters break the law. There is a long tradition of journalists going undercover to either report on violations of existing laws or on conditions that legislative bodies decided to act upon once it was revealed. It���s generally a tactic of last resort but still remains one that can be considered. In another state Senate vote, a bill to establish a search fee for voluminous records requests and give citizens control over the format they could receive electronically stored public data was defeated, 21-28. Two senators said the loss wasn���t related to those two parameters but reflected unhappiness expressed by county recorders over an amendment added by H.B. 1175���s sponsor, state Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle. Holdman���s amendment would allow a person to use a cell phone to take pictures of documents that include that person���s name without having to pay a copying fee to the government unit. Compromise language had been suggested by the recorders association, so the defeat was unexpected. Since H.B. 1175 was approved by the House, it is eligible to be added to another bill in a conference committee if the author, state Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, decides to attempt to resurrect it.