AN ACT TO AMEND THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC RECORDS ACT OF 1983 TO PROVIDE EXEMPTIONS FOR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII); TO AMEND SECTION 25-61-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DEFINE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION AND PROTECTED PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION; TO AMEND SECTION 25-61-12, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXEMPT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
SB 2633 amends the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 to create a new exemption for personally identifiable information (PII) and protected PII. The bill defines PII broadly as information that can identify or trace an individual, alone or when combined with other data, and defines protected PII as a person’s name in combination with items such as Social Security numbers, home addresses, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, financial account numbers, personnel records, tax information, licensure applications, passport numbers, mother’s maiden name, criminal, medical and financial records, and educational transcripts.
The bill also revises the public records statute to state that “public records” do not include personal information as defined elsewhere in the code, and it adds a new exemption providing that protected PII and other PII are exempt from disclosure. Existing exemptions for law enforcement officers’ private information, investigative reports, victim information, and certain public hospital board records remain in place. The bill takes effect July 1, 2026.
If enacted, SB 2633 would narrow access to certain records held by Mississippi public bodies by making PII and protected PII exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act. It would affect agencies that maintain records containing identifying, employment, medical, financial, educational, licensing, tax, or criminal-history information, and would likely require additional redaction practices when responding to public records requests. The bill would amend Sections 25-61-3 and 25-61-12 of the Mississippi Code and would expand the statute’s privacy protections across state and local government records.
The available context shows no recorded committee debate or vote history, so there is no direct evidence of support or opposition from hearings or floor action. Based on the bill’s placement with the Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency committee and its stated purpose, the measure appears to be framed as a privacy and records-management bill rather than a controversial policy overhaul. The overall tone of the text is protective and administrative, emphasizing confidentiality and redaction of sensitive personal data.
The main point of potential contention is the breadth of the new PII exemption. Because the bill defines PII expansively and allows non-PII to become PII when combined with other publicly available information, requesters and open-government advocates could view the exemption as potentially limiting access to records that were previously releasable. On the other hand, supporters would likely argue that the bill is necessary to reduce identity theft, protect privacy, and safeguard sensitive information in government files. The bill also preserves some existing disclosure rules, such as the public status of incident reports, which may help limit concerns about overbroad secrecy.