1. (a) A public agency may establish and maintain an electronic portal for submission of public records requests that:

   1. (1) incorporates Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) or an equivalent mechanism for ensuring that a requestor is a human;
   2. (2) requires verification of a requestor's physical address;
   3. (3) indicates to the public agency whether the requestor is a resident of Indiana; and
   4. (4) automatically tracks and reports submissions suspected to be automated or to have originated from known sources of phishing or data scraping.

2. (b) A public agency may decline to respond to a public records request that is submitted to the public agency if one (1) or more of the following apply:

   1. (1) The public agency suspects the request to be data scraping or phishing activity.

   2. (2) The public agency suspects that responding to the request electronically may:

      1. (A) expose the public agency's electronic systems or data to unauthorized access or alteration; or
      2. (B) otherwise jeopardize the security of the public agency's electronic systems or data.
3. (c) Not later than seven (7) days after a public agency receives a public records request to which the public agency declines to respond under subsection (b), the public agency shall notify the public access counselor of the request and the reason under subsection (b) for which the public agency has declined to respond to the request.

As added by P.L.97-2026, SEC.2.