The bill amends existing legislation to mandate the redaction of personal identifying information and auto insurance policy numbers from vehicle accident reports, enhancing privacy protections for individuals involved in such incidents. It allows unredacted reports to be accessible only to specific authorized parties, including those directly involved in the accident, their attorneys, insurance companies, and law enforcement agencies. These parties are restricted from publicly disclosing the unredacted information without written consent from all involved or, in the case of a deceased or incapacitated individual, their legal next of kin.

To ensure compliance with these privacy measures, the bill introduces escalating civil penalties for unauthorized disclosure of personal information, with fines increasing from $1,000 for the first offense to $5,000 for subsequent violations. Additionally, custodians of government records are required to maintain a log of all unredacted vehicle accident report disclosures, which must be available to the Government Records Council or Attorney General upon request. This legislation aims to balance public access to government records with the necessity of protecting individual privacy in light of rising concerns over data breaches and identity theft.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 47:1A-1.1, 47:1A-11