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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bill would restrict public employee information under public records law

Drew Edmondson (D)

TULSA, Okla. (Legal Newsline)- Oklahoma is raking in millions of dollars by selling personal information about motorists, a report indicates.

The state has made at least $65 million in the past five years from the sale of millions of motor vehicle records, which include such personal information as birth dates of all drivers, the Oklahoman reported Sunday.

The newspaper noted that a private company -- Kansas-based NIC Inc. -- has collected about $15 million conducting most of those transactions on behalf of the state.

NIC's vice president of marketing, Chris Neff, reportedly told the newspaper that companies such as ChoicePoint/LexisNexis, Insurance Information Exchange, American Driving Records and Acxiom Information Security Services regularly buy motor vehicle records from Oklahoma.

"The biggest single reason why they're pulling it is because they use the driver history information to set rates for your annual renewal for your vehicle policy," Neff was quoted as saying.

The Oklahoman's report comes as the state Legislature considers restricting access to birth dates of public employees. The proposal, outlined in Senate bill 1753, would exempt government worker birth dates from the state's Open Records Act.

In a recent opinion, state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, a Democrat, said birth dates of public employees are presumed open records in Oklahoma.

From Legal Newsline: Reach staff reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.

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