2002 Senate Bill 1358 ↩

House Roll Call 989: Passed

To reverse a provision of a recently-passed bill (Senate Bill 730) which would make a search warrant affidavit "non-public" information. The affidavit establishes probable grounds for issuing a warrant, and contains information regarding an alleged crime. The bill would a search warrant, affidavit, or seized property tabulation contained in any court file or record retention system public information, except for the affidavit, which would become public information 56 days after a search warrant is issued. A judge could suppress an affidavit if its release would jeopardize an ongoing investigation, the privacy, or the safety of a crime victim or witness. The suppression of an affidavit would expire after 55 days, and any new suppression order would require the same procedures as the first.