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Hawley Wants Penalties for Missouri Records Law Violations

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley says he wants a change in state law so that there are penalties if government agencies violate record-retention laws.

Hawley on Monday said there currently are no penalties if public bodies break that law by deleting certain records. He's asking lawmakers to change that, and he's also asking them to give his office the power to subpoena government agencies and officials in the course of public-records investigations.

Hawley's call to update state record-retention laws comes as his office is looking into reports that fellow Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and other top staffers in his office have Confide app accounts. The app deletes messages after they're read and blocks screenshots.

Hawley says the inquiry of Greitens' office is ongoing.

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