Parsons Behle & Latimer First Amendment attorney Michael Judd was quoted in articles that appeared in both the Salt Lake Tribune as well as the Deseret News regarding the passing of a bill in the 2025 Utah Legislative Session that would dismantle the citizen committee that decides disputes over the release of government records to be replaced with an administrative law judge appointed by the governor; and that strips away the "balancing test," which allows for records that otherwise might not be available to the public to be released if there is an overwhelming benefit to the public. Residents panned the legislation, urging the committee to not approve a bill few have had a chance to read and that would hinder transparency and give too much power to one person to decide whether government records are private or public. The Bill narrowly won approval from the Utah Senate.
Quoted in the Tribune, Judd said, “The State Records Committee deserves respect. It deserves to be recognized for the work it has done. This is a citizen-led process,” said Michael Judd, an attorney representing the Utah Media Coalition — which represents many of the state’s news outlets and media organizations, including The Salt Lake Tribune — at Tuesday’s committee hearing. “The State Records Committee gets these questions right. … It gets them right over and over and over again.”
