Proponents of Senate Bill 104 stress the need to allow for physical space around emergency and law enforcement officers, both for reasons of safety and to avoid harassment.
The standards in the bill prohibit individuals from harassing, impeding, or threatening responders with physical harm. If the violator is verbally warned and remains inside the buffer, that could result in a misdemeanor — or, if the activity persists, up to a Class D felony.
But Lexington Democratic Rep. Adam Moore raised concerns Tuesday about videos out of Minneapolis and elsewhere of aggressive immigration enforcement actions and statements by Trump administration officials that have cast the filming of such actions as part of an effort to obstruct or dox agents.
Moore asked the bill's sponsor, Sen. Matt Nunn, whether his measure would characterize that as harassment.
"If law enforcement officers, especially CBP, ICE, (are) in Kentucky and operating and they're being recorded peacefully by just a cell phone that we all have in our pocket, would that be viewed as harassment under this law?" Moore asked.
In response, Nunn said, "In that instance, it's the officer's judgment and what I would say... is the person should step away 25 feet and record from a 25-foot distance. All of our cameras nowadays are strong enough that you can get a good image from 25 feet away. And if you feel that officer is giving you an inappropriate instruction, you can get their name, their badge number, and you can report them to their supervisor."
While the bill did clear a House committee Tuesday, that answer wasn't enough to calm Moore's worries. The lawmaker said videos of ICE officers in masks without badges who refuse to identify themselves have left him less confident that citizens would have the proper recourse if they were mistreated by officers.
Senate Bill 104 has already won approval in the Senate, with Sen. Craig Richardson saying it will "protect people that want to be there, that want to be close by, that are concerned and have a vested interest in what's happening, but also protect those that are trying to serve and do their job, whether it's law enforcement or those providing medical attention on the scene."
The bill now heads to the full House.