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Rep. Paul Ray doesn't see HB408 as restricting access to jail booking photos, but how people use the mug shots.

But others see it as a dangerous foray into restricting public records.

Ray, R-Clearfield, is sponsoring legislation that would require people requesting mug shots to sign an affidavit swearing they won't require people to pay to have a mug shot removed from a website or magazine. Ray claimed some of the sites charge between $500-$1,000 to remove the pictures, a move he labeled a "scam."

"You have somebody, for instance a husband and wife arrested on a domestic [violence charge]. They book them in, not charge them and end up releasing them," Ray said. "They're trying to fix their marriage, and now their mug shots are all over these magazines, and they're charging them to get it off there."

One site, slcmugshots.com, offers instant removal for $99, a discount from the regular $159 rate. The site also has a disclaimer that photos are not proof of guilt.

Ray said Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder requested the bill. Winder's office has stopped posting mug shots online, requiring those who want them to instead file requests under Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act.

"The purpose of these mug shots is to identify criminals," Winder told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee Thursday, "not bully or harass citizens." He said journalists can still file GRAMA requests for mug shots.

The Utah County Sheriff's Office only posts low-resolution thumbnail pictures of those booked at the Utah County Jail.

Under Ray's bill, those who charge to have the pictures removed after signing the affidavit would be charged with lying to a police officer, a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Ray claims the affidavit would be required for those making bulk requests, but the bill indicates it would be required of those seeking a single shot.

While nobody spoke against the bill at the committee, which voted unanimously to send it to the full House for consideration, open-government advocates see it as setting a dangerous precedent.

Salt Lake media attorney Jeffrey Hunt said it could embolden government agencies to start asking people why they are seeking public records, which could chill records requests.

"The whole purpose of GRAMA is if a record is public, you should have it and not have to explain why," Hunt said.

Jim Fisher, an associate professor of communication at the University of Utah, said the bill appears to be an attempt to legislate journalistic ethics.

"It's one of those laws that's based on morality and not legality," Fisher said.

Responsible journalists, Fisher said, typically do not run the names of people who have merely been arrested but not charged with a crime. But that is a question of ethics, not law.

Hunt said a better approach to the problem would be to enforce laws relating to extortion or fraud.

The Utah's Right website does not publish the names of those whose criminal cases have been dismissed or have entered into plea-in-abeyance agreements. The site's staff will remove the names of those whose criminal records have been expunged by the courts.