A bill filed in the Washington legislature will, if enacted, expand that state's equivalent of Kentucky's "homeland security" exception to the open records law to restrict access to "elections operations or infrastructure."

The Washington bill will exclude records relating to "continuity of operations plan for election operations, and any security audits, security risk assessments, or security test results relating to physical security or cybersecurity of election operations or infrastructure."

The bill expressly exempts "those portions of records containing information about election infrastructure, election security, or potential threats to election security, the public disclosure of which would have a

substantial likelihood of increasing risk to the integrity of election operations or infrastructure."

Kentucky's existing "homeland security" exception, enacted in the wake of the events of 9-11, authorizes, among other records, nondisclosure of:

"Public records the disclosure of which would have a reasonable likelihood of threatening the public safety by exposing a vulnerability in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, or responding to a terrorist act and limited to:

a. Criticality lists resulting from consequence assessments;

b. Vulnerability assessments;

c. Antiterrorism protective measures and plans;

d. Counterterrorism measures and plans;

e. Security and response needs assessments;

f. Infrastructure records that expose a vulnerability referred to in this subparagraph through the disclosure of the location, configuration, or security of critical systems, including public utility critical systems. These critical systems shall include but not be limited to information technology, communication, electrical, fire suppression, ventilation, water, wastewater, sewage, and gas systems[.]"

Does the more broadly worded Kentucky "homeland security" exception already provide adequate protection for the records Washington legislators target?