August 23, 2023
By Bill Raftery
The last two years have seen a marked uptick in the number of states considering the adoption of laws to protect judges and court staff, with 11 pieces of legislation across 9 states enacted in 2023.
The new laws vary in terms of who is covered, what personally identifiable information (PII) is protected, and what civil remedies and criminal charges can result in the publication or use of this information. For example, Florida has two new laws.
SB 50 of 2023 expands an existing statute by adding current and former judicial assistants and their spouses and children to whom an exemption from public records requirements applies.
HB 67, however, focuses on criminal penalties by creating a new first-degree misdemeanor offense for a person knowingly and willfully harassing with the intent to intimidate or coerce a judge, a justice, a judicial assistant, a clerk of court, clerk personnel, or specified officials to perform or refrain from performing a lawful duty. HB 67 also adds those same individuals to the list of persons protected from threats of serious bodily harm or death under s. 836.12(2), F.S.
Missouri’s Judicial Privacy Act legislation, enacted as part of a larger bill (SB 103) on judicial proceedings, focuses on PII protection in two ways. One portion prohibits government agencies from releasing personal information (as defined by the law) regarding judges, prosecuting attorneys, and their families. Another portion prohibits persons, businesses, or associations from posting such personal information online provided that the judicial officer has made a written request to the person, business, or association that they refrain from disclosing the personal information. It also prohibits persons, businesses, or associations from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet a judicial officer's personal information for purposes of tampering with a judicial officer in violation of section 575.095, RSMo, or with the intent to pose an imminent and serious threat to the health and safety of the judicial officer or the judicial officer’s immediate family.
A complete list of all legislation introduced on judicial security in 2023 can be found on the Gavel to Gavel website (www.ncsc.org/gaveltogavel). While there, sign up for the weekly newsletter published during state spring legislative sessions. For previous Trending Topics on the history of judicial security legislation see February 2022 and February 2023.
Is your state also trying to protect the personal information of judges and other court staff? Email us at Knowledge@ncsc.org or call 800-616-6164 and let us know. Follow the National Center for State Courts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn , and Vimeo.
A list of the 11 bills enacted in 2023:
Prohibits a person from knowingly making a public official’s personal information available on the internet if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the safety of the public official or the public official’s immediate family. Adds, to the definition of personal information, a public official’s home address, home telephone number, pager number, personal photograph, directions to the person’s home, or photographs of the person's home or vehicle. | |
Adding current and former judicial assistants and their spouses and children to the specified agency personnel and family members to whom an exemption from public records requirements applies; providing for retroactive application of the exemption; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc. | |
Creates a new first-degree misdemeanor offense in s. 836.12(3), F.S., to prohibit a person from knowingly and willfully harassing a law enforcement officer, a state attorney, an assistant state attorney, a firefighter, a judge, a justice, a judicial assistant, a clerk of court, clerk personnel, or an elected official, with the intent to intimidate or coerce such a person to perform or refrain from performing a lawful duty. Includes justices, judicial assistants, clerks of court, clerk personnel, and family members of such persons on the list of persons protected from threats of serious bodily harm or death under s. 836.12(2), F.S. | |
Seeks to provide protection for judicial officers and their family members by establishing a process to shield judges’ home addresses and telephone numbers from public disclosure. | |
Addresses confidentiality. Replaces a “victim of domestic violence” with an individual who is an address-confidentiality “program participant” in the definition of “covered person” for purposes of the statutes concerning restricted addresses. Urges the legislative council to assign to the appropriate interim study committee certain topics regarding address-confidentiality protections. | |
Establishes the Judicial Privacy Act, which regulates the use of a judicial officer’s personal information. | |
Requires state agencies to treat the covered information of any current or retired judge as private when the agency receives a written request by the judge or the Administrative Director of the Courts. Eligible judges may also make the same request to any private entity that has publicly posted the covered information on the Internet and may ask that the information of their immediate family members also be protected. Prohibits data brokers from knowingly selling, licensing, trading, or purchasing private information pertaining to a judge or his or her immediate family. Additionally, the Administrative Director of the Courts is required to submit an annual report to the legislature detailing the amount spent by state and local governments to protect the judge’s information. | |
Judicial Personal Privacy Protection Act. Provides home address and personal cellular telephone number of a judge held or maintained by a state or local government agency are confidential and must not be disclosed to the public by a state or local government agency if the judge requests access be restricted. | |
Relating to the confidentiality of certain home address information in ad valorem tax appraisal records. | |
Prohibits the Commonwealth from publishing on the internet the personal information of any active or retired federal or Virginia justice, judge, or magistrate. The bill adds active or retired federal or Virginia justices, judges, and magistrates to the list of people for which an enhanced punishment applies for the crime of using such person’s identity with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass. The bill also adds active and retired magistrates to the list of people who may furnish, in addition to his residence street address, a post office box address located within the Commonwealth to be included in lieu of his street address on the lists of registered voters. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia. | |
Prohibits the Commonwealth from publishing on the internet the personal information of any active or retired federal or Virginia justice, judge, or magistrate. The bill adds active or retired federal or Virginia justices, judges, and magistrates to the list of people for which an enhanced punishment applies for the crime of using such person’s identity with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass. The bill also adds active and retired magistrates to the list of people who may furnish, in addition to his residence street address, a post office box address located within the Commonwealth to be included in lieu of his street address on the lists of registered voters. |