Reworked Police Body Camera Footage Bill Advances In Senate

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Senators have rewritten a proposal to exempt police body camera footage from Louisiana's public records laws to instead allow members of the public to access some recordings.

A Senate judiciary committee advanced the proposal from Sen. Ronnie Johns, a Lake Charles Republican, with changes that align it with current public records law.

The measure would require a court order for video that may violate a "reasonable expectation of privacy." No one on the panel objected Tuesday after the bill was rewritten, sending it to the full Senate for debate.

Bill backers say they want to protect privacy.

Testimony also turned to the high cost of video storage, prompting both sides to agree that Louisiana needs to support a task force to recommend statewide guidelines.

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