Government agencies may be able to take longer to process records requests that require additional staff time, a Senate committee agreed Monday.

The intent of SB44, which passed the Senate Political Subdivisions and Government Operations Committee, is to prevent abuses of the Government Records Access Management Act by individuals or groups angry at governmental decision. The law will be especially helpful to small towns and cities, sponsoring Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, said. The bill now moves to the Senate floor.

"It does not limit access," Walker said. "It simply clarifies the law and makes it easier for these small towns."

Walker cited the example of Alta, where a developer who was not allowed to build on a lot in Albion Basin that lacked water requested all of the records produced during the town's 30-year-plus history. The developer's wife, as well as other family members, also requested the records.

If passed, the law would allow a government agency to classify requests from individuals who are working together as a single request. It would also allow them to divide the requests into different groups and then grant a 10 day deadline for each group of records, instead of forcing them to meet all requests in 10 days of the request.

Media representatives at the meeting mentioned no concerns with the bill, although they were opposed to an attempt to expand the membership of the State Records Committee to include another member from cities and towns.

Joel Campbell, a Brigham Young University professor and representative for the Utah Press Association, said that the committee was already "loaded with bureaucrats." As long as the media only had one representative, it should remain the same for other entities.

The bill will help cities deal with people who make unreasonable demands on government officials to "exact their pound of flesh," said Ken Bullock, executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

"Our focus has never been to preclude public access" to government records, Bullock said Monday. "It's just to define what becomes abusive."

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Contributing: Associated Press; E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com