The bill to overhaul the state's Open Public Records Act is dead for now.

After intense outcry from the public lawyers, watchdog groups and journalists, lawmakers pulled the fast tracked legislation on Thursday, just an hour before it was scheduled to go for a committee vote.

Democratic leaders are instead sending the bill back for amendments.

They heard hours of testimony from critics who warn the so-called reforms would gut government transparency by limiting access to things like email and call logs and even digital calendars of public agencies and officials.

Items that have been used to uncover scandals like Bridgegate to name one.

Supporters, who mostly include associations representing counties and towns, argued they're being inundated with requests, and the current law doesn't keep up with the digital age.

So where does the bill go from here?

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

The chants and cheers greeted news that a fast track bill to reform Jersey's Open Public Records Act, or Oprah had gotten temporarily derailed Thursday, yanked off an Assembly committee agenda by its sponsor.

After furious protests, the chair agreed.

I spent time this week relaying your concerns on this bill.

Many concerns that I personally share.

Opponents accuse top Democrats of trying to ram through the measure they claimed would essentially gut Oprah and cripple the public's right to request government records.

The outcry prompted Speaker Craig Coughlin to comment.

I'm inspired, tired that so many people have taken an interest and engaged in this legislation.

Right now we're working on various amendments to ensure we get the bill right.

Senator Andrew Zwicker agrees.

Both sides we're at a point now where people are mostly just yelling at each other and no longer having conversations about what can we do to make sure that this is a bill that actually modernizes opera.

He says modern technology's outrun the 20 year old law, raising valid privacy concerns.

But the new measure would bar open access to logs of public official e-mails and phone calls and require specific names in email exchanges complicating requests.

Moreover, the bill would make such reforms retroactive, killing current opera filings and appeals that don't comply.

That's a nonstarter for Zwicker.

Any time there's a proposal to do something retroactively, there's always a case in front of the courts or something going on that it causes a real issue.

When Oprah was signed into law, we really didn't have identity theft like we have today.

We didn't have the data mining that we have today.

Lori Buckelew is with the League of Municipalities, which lobbied lawmakers for years pushing to restrict OPA requests over privacy and cost concerns.

Fierce lobbying will continue as this bill gets reworked.

We know individual towns are reaching out to their legislators with the impact Oprah has had on their communities.

We do not have statistics or numbers that support the abuse of Oprah is a widespread, ongoing, terrible issue that's gumming up the wheels of government.

New Jersey's ACLU agrees complying with Oprah does take time and money, but says the answer lies in digital upgrades to government record keeping, not added restrictions.

And it will bitterly fight a new provision that could make folks who file Oprah requests pay legal fees if they end up in court.

And it's really a disservice to the residents of New Jersey, especially folks who are lower to middle income, who don't have the $300 for filing fees in the court.

What happens next?

Senate sponsor Paul SARLO still pushing for fast action, stating, I look forward to further developing these proposals by having everyone involved work together in the weeks ahead before the budget process gets fully engaged in early April.

But Mark Phifer, who helped launch Oprah decades ago, advises lawmakers Take it easy.

If you take a year, year and a half continue to dig into this and come up with a solution that will last another 20 or 25 years, you're doing really well.

But the heat is on this issue and it's not likely to get back burner for long.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ.

Spotlight News.