A Provo senator confirmed Tuesday that he plans to push legislation that would make Brigham Young University’s police department subject to the state’s open records laws, potentially ending a legal fight that has made its way to the state Supreme Court.
Whether the private university’s police force should be required to fulfill public records requests has been a subject of debate since 2016. That’s when The Salt Lake Tribune filed a lawsuit arguing that BYU police should be subject to transparency laws because it has “full-spectrum” law enforcement authority under state law. This means BYU officers may stop, search, arrest or use physical force against people, just as any other sworn officer in the state.