North Dakota's House has killed a bill that would name lawmakers who make written requests for public records.
The House defeated the measure 62-29 on Tuesday.
North Dakota's Senate approved the bill 44-3 in February.
Lawmakers can make anonymous requests for public records through the Legislative Council, which is the Legislature's research arm.
Republican Sen. Tim Flakoll, of Fargo, is the main sponsor of the bill. He says there have been some cases where unnamed lawmakers have made single requests for thousands of pages of documents at a staggering cost to taxpayers.
Although the proposed legislation is intended to strip the anonymity of lawmakers making such requests, it still provides a huge loophole. Lawmakers could still be unnamed if they make the request for public records by telephone.